Dodge is now giving the base Challenger the Hemi treatment with the Challenger SE Rallye. No, the 6.1-liter 425 hp V8 is from the SRT8 is not the standard engine (it’s a 3.5-liter V6), but it’s five-speed automatic does fine a home in the Rallye package.
Other features of the package include 18-inch rallye wheels, racing stripes and body colored spoiler. The whole package starts from $26,490, and is a small price to pay to look like it’s got a Hemi in it.
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Dodge
Nissan Motor Co said on Tuesday it had improved fuel economy on seven models sold in Japan to benefit from new tax incentives that are part of the government’s efforts to jump-start car demand.
Japan’s No.3 automaker said its line-up of fuel-efficient vehicles eligible for the tax breaks would expand to 13 from six starting in late April, in a move that it hoped would help its domestic sales grow in the new business year from Wednesday.
Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co have 28 and nine models, respectively, that qualify for the varying degrees of preferential tax treatment.
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Nissan
The concept you see here will hit European streets in production form in November of this year looking very similar and keeping the 5-series Gran Turismo name. (It has also been known as the “Space-Functional Concept” and “Progressive Activity Sedan” during its development.) Its tail will wear a “GT” badge, and it will make use of BMW’s confusing new “sDrive” and “xDrive” nomenclature.
To us, it looks like an oversized hatchback, but BMW arrogantly insists the 5-series GT is “a new concept not just for BMW, but for the entire automotive world.” To corroborate this theory, the company points out some unique elements, of which two stand out. One of them is the split tailgate, which you can partly or fully open. The partial opening is not the window, as on some station wagons, but the lower part. The trunk then opens as it would on a conventional sedan. The point of this complex and heavy tailgate, according to BMW, is that the trunk can be opened without creating a draft on rear passengers’ necks. Really.
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BMW
Opening Day came early for employees Tuesday at Jack Kain’s Ford, Lincoln, Mercury dealership, when Ford Motor Co. announced a new program that would help buyers in the event of a job loss.
“When I read it to our sales people, you would have thought we just knocked a home run,” said Jack Kain, a dealer in Versailles, Ky. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
Weighed down by the lowest sales levels in 27 years and consumer confidence at historic lows, Ford and General Motors Corp. announced two programs that would cover buyers’ monthly car payments in the event they lose their jobs. All automakers report sales figures for March on Wednesday, which are expected to be just as dismal as February, when companies sold about 688,909 cars.
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Ford