If reports out of Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s dealer conference in Las Vegas are to be believed, the Dodge lineup may be receiving a rear-wheel-drive coupe smaller than the Challenger and wearing the dormant Barracuda nameplate. “But wait!”, Mopar enthusiasts may cry, “The Barracuda was a Plymouth, not a Dodge! This makes no sense!” Well, I guess you can’t keep a good nameplate down and any publicity is good publicity: it certainly didn’t hurt Dodge sales to put the Charger nameplate on a sedan. And, of course, any new performance models in the Dodge lineup is cause for celebration. The downside is FCA isn’t manufacturing a lot of Dodges in right-hand-drive, and sadly Australia is stuck with that format. Accordingly, our only Dodge is the competitive but not terribly exciting Journey. Rumors abound that the Challenger and Charger will arrive here but in the meantime the Chrysler and Jeep brands must fly the performance flag. That was probably the reason for this dealer-special 300 I spotted.
Yes, this is a 300 bearing Super Bee insignia. It’s not an official option or trim level, and yet I spotted it at a FCA dealership in Brisbane. While I love Mopar performance models and I love the Chrysler 300, this just doesn’t look right.
The 300 SRT-8 may have a fiery Hemi under the hood, but its exterior is simultaneously muscular yet tasteful. But combining the 300’s formal lines with an impact color like this just calls to mind the 1975 Plymouth Roadrunner.
Interestingly, as the Chrysler division is being repositioned as FCA’s mainstream brand (as opposed to whatever it is now), the SRT-8 model will depart the American lineup. It lives on in Australia, though: one in every three Chrysler 300 sedans sold in Australia is an SRT-8, and with Ford and Holden withdrawing from the V8 performance sedan market, FCA has the opportunity to dominate the segment. The new SRT-8 receives an eight-speed automatic transmission mated to the legendary 6.4 Hemi V8 with 470 hp and 470 ft-lbs. Excellent…
I want to hate this car. But for some reason I can’t.
This sort of trim and packaging definitely should be left to the Charger. This just doesn’t look right at all.
I totally agree.
I also think that if FCA wants to position Chrysler as the “mainstream brand” or more dedicatedly luxury, they need to leave all the sporty cars to Dodge. By all means, plunk the big V8s into a 300-but it needs to be a luxo-sleeper. It also needs to quit making stripper versions of its cars and also leave that to Dodge.
That is a bit of a challenge here in Australia. I would doubt they will send the Charger or Challenger here, the 300 is both established now but also positioned as more of a luxury car than the Charger would be, and it sells to the livery trade here as well as private sales.
Not surprising this sort of thing pops up in Brisvegas William!
The current model hasn’t been working for them. They’ve been flirting with near-luxury on the high end, but also selling basic minivans and fleet-fodder 200s. (The previous model, the current one seems rather nicer.) But I think rather than going the “more dedicated luxury” route and trying to take on Cadillac and ze Germans, they’re just going straight mainstream. Dodge will become the sporting brand, and that’s it, so I assume the Dart will be elminated and reintroduced as a Chrysler. Logically, then, the next 300 will probably cease to offer a V8 at all, see some serious de-contenting, and be repositioned as a V6-only competitor to the Impala and Taurus. As you said, Dodge will be sport/muscle only, which probably sees the lineup pared down to a V8-only Charger, Challenger, Barracuda (if that gets greenlighted), and Viper. Journey can also be recast as a Chrysler.
Since Chrysler is owned by FCA, I really don’t see them trying to turn Chrysler into a full on luxury brand to compete with Cadillac let alone the Germans. There is no point, FCA already has Maserati as a proper luxury brand that has some cachet. As much as I’d love to see Imperial resurrected, its been done too many times (and poorly, I’d add) and as much as I hate to say it, the old school American luxobarge has sailed off into the sunset.
I have read somewhere that they are going to make a 100, probably like you said by taking on the presently Dodge Dart. The new 200 is a rather nice looking car, especially in C trim. Even if they are going to go “mainstream”, I personally would send the 300 itself a little more upscale, with lower grade “C”‘s as the minimum and I wouldn’t drop the 5.7L v8, making it a “sub-brand” in a way. I’d hate to see the 300 get decontented after it got a posh boost in the second generation.
That’s Leo Muller Chrylser I take it? They do this dress up kit on the V6 models only place that does it as far as I am aware.
Next up: paint it periwinkle blue, upholster it with denim, and call it a Gremlin X. :0
Levi’s Edition Gremlin X.
I want a Pacer, though….
I could tolerate this if it weren’t for the decals clearly designed for the 06-10 Charger (note that dip on the door).
I don’t dislike the color and blackout though, sure as hell beats silver
lol, just give me a 300 in that deep red maroon color that it one of the available paints for the current 300. At least that looks classy.
Our neighbors had a metallic maroon Charger – I called it taillight red – that looked great in that color.
Needs a “Mean Mary Jean’s Machine” bumper sticker to be completely over the top.
The red car in the post–the one lacking the billet grille–looks terrible. When Chrysler rolled out the 2015 refresh of the 2011 model and eliminated the classy-looking billet grille in favor of the current honeycomb grille and bulbous front bumper they took something great and made it terrible.
Sometimes it’s better to leave something alone and not fix what’s broken.
I agree, the 2015 refresh really didn’t improve anything as far as I’m concerned and that’s why I got a 2014 300C.
The 2014 tail lights (especially with the C trim chrome inserts) look much better than the 2015. The grille is much better in the 2014 than the 2015. I also prefer the older interior with the wood top steering wheel and baseball stitched leather. Whatever that new stitch type is in the 2015 300s and newer Cadillacs just doesn’t look or feel as good.
Although I like it, it should be a 2 door and sized on the order of the 200, still with the Hemi and still a RWD car.
There was the golden opportunity to call this the Dirty Mary Crazy Larry Edition.
I knew it reminded me of something! Always found that paintjob questionable too
Back during the brief period when FCA was trying to make SRT into its own brand, I thought I read that they were toying with bringing back the Barracuda name on an SRT vehicle. Now that SRT isn’t a distinct brand anymore, maybe the Barracuda has to be a Dodge…
…On second thought, why not badge it as a Plymouth, even if there are no other Plymouth models? If Ram and SRT can be/were their own brands, why can’t there be a one-model Plymouth brand? The former Chrysler Corp. doesn’t have brand-specific dealer networks anymore, so why can’t Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Fiat dealers become Chrysler-Plymouth-Jeep-Dodge-Ram-Fiat dealers?
I must confess to quite liking it! I wonder if any enterprising Kiwi dealers have done something similar… Looks like the dealer has been dressing the 300 up for a couple years now -http://news.allpar.com/index.php/2013/02/chrysler-300-super-bee-v6-21663
Another fan here, a factory hot rod with loud paint and decals would be just the thing to take on the Vauxhall VXR8, which has sold quite well in the UK despite the price of petrol. The 300 SRT8 looks a bit plain next to a VXR8,
Its not a match when you stand on the loud pedal either.
Arghhh… When the issue of getting a car came up a few months ago I toyed with the thought of buying the European version, that is, the Lancia Thema. 4X4, V6, twin turbo 240 hp diesel (easily chip-able for much more) etc. Common sense prevailed in the end – I park in a very small yard with a narrow path leading in (parking in the street where I live, Vienna’s “multiculturaly vibrant” 15th Quarter is out of the question), tax/insurance is way too high for what will be standing most of the time, they no longer make them and more.
But it was very tempting.
Like the current 300C quite a bit (well, it was better before the 2015 refresh, but still…) but this is a bit over the top for my tastes! It’s a shame the SRT-8 is getting eliminated, though. As noted earlier, I think those of us who like the current concept will probably be disappointed whenever a totally new model comes out. If Chrysler is moving downmarket, the 300 as we know it is a goner.
They did this is like 2 years ago down in NSW with Vinyl wrap in an attempt to shift some base level 300s. They had a terrible pink one too. They sat on the lot for months and I guess they were sent up there.
I don’t mind the premium trim 300c luxury but that base one is heinous, especially in the wrap shown.
Although I’m not a fan of the colour, I do like the car itself.