- Jan 7, 2002
- 12,755
- 3
- 0
So what if he only gets 12 miles per gallon around town?
Tom Moyer?s decision to buy a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, powered by a new V-8 ?Hemi? engine, had nothing to do with fuel economy. It was all about that intoxicating feeling when he mashed down the accelerator.
?You get that push-back in the seat, that G-force thing,? Moyer, 42, said of his new truck. ?I could be doing 90 and not even realize it.?
When DaimlerChrysler revived its classic Hemi engine two years ago, company leaders knew the 345-horsepower beast would do well with Dodge loyalists like Moyer, who is on his fourth Ram truck, and baby boomers who remembered the Hemi from its former life as the power plant for Chrysler muscle cars in the 1960s. The big surprise is how well everyone else has responded to it.
There is no question the Hemi is helping sell some trucks. U.S. sales of Dodge Ram pickups rose 13 percent in 2003 to hit an all-time record of nearly 450,000 units, with more than half the buyers opting for the Hemi. Dodge?s new Durango sport utility vehicle, launched in November as a 2004 model, also is off to a fast start, thanks in part to the hype surrounding Hemi.
Roberto Gutierrez, vice president of Mexican manufacturing operations for Chrysler, said his team is already studying ways to expand Hemi production in Saltillo, which now has the capacity to build 500,000 of the engines a year. ?Today?s request is for about 420,000,? he said. Last year, before the 300 and Magnum were added to the lineup, Saltillo built 280,000 Hemi engines.
Gutierrez believes that once the new Jeep Grand Cherokee debuts this fall demand could surge again, to 600,000 units, and a plant expansion may be necessary.
A plant add-on will be just a small sign Chrysler has made a mark with Hemi, historian Miller said.
?The moment they put a Hemi into a minivan, that?s when we?ll know they?ve achieved a truly enormous victory.?
Text
Tom Moyer?s decision to buy a 2004 Dodge Ram pickup, powered by a new V-8 ?Hemi? engine, had nothing to do with fuel economy. It was all about that intoxicating feeling when he mashed down the accelerator.
?You get that push-back in the seat, that G-force thing,? Moyer, 42, said of his new truck. ?I could be doing 90 and not even realize it.?
When DaimlerChrysler revived its classic Hemi engine two years ago, company leaders knew the 345-horsepower beast would do well with Dodge loyalists like Moyer, who is on his fourth Ram truck, and baby boomers who remembered the Hemi from its former life as the power plant for Chrysler muscle cars in the 1960s. The big surprise is how well everyone else has responded to it.
There is no question the Hemi is helping sell some trucks. U.S. sales of Dodge Ram pickups rose 13 percent in 2003 to hit an all-time record of nearly 450,000 units, with more than half the buyers opting for the Hemi. Dodge?s new Durango sport utility vehicle, launched in November as a 2004 model, also is off to a fast start, thanks in part to the hype surrounding Hemi.
Roberto Gutierrez, vice president of Mexican manufacturing operations for Chrysler, said his team is already studying ways to expand Hemi production in Saltillo, which now has the capacity to build 500,000 of the engines a year. ?Today?s request is for about 420,000,? he said. Last year, before the 300 and Magnum were added to the lineup, Saltillo built 280,000 Hemi engines.
Gutierrez believes that once the new Jeep Grand Cherokee debuts this fall demand could surge again, to 600,000 units, and a plant expansion may be necessary.
A plant add-on will be just a small sign Chrysler has made a mark with Hemi, historian Miller said.
?The moment they put a Hemi into a minivan, that?s when we?ll know they?ve achieved a truly enormous victory.?
Text
Facebook
Twitter