January 2005 saw the appearance of the Firepower Concept at the Detroit Motor Show in the USA. A sample of Chrysler's intentions for his sports cars over the next five years.
In 2004 Chrysler introduced the ME 4-12 concept for the super car category, a vehicle theoretically capable of reaching 400 km/h. With many of its aesthetic features, the Firepower concept seems to be the near future of Chrysler supercars.
There are no official versions, but it is very likely that Chrysler will want to serially produce this or some other very similar sports car to compete directly with the new Chevy Corvette C6 from General Motors. The Firepower is based on the Dodge Viper platform and adopts the Hemi engine present on the Chrysler 300C SRT-8. It is a V8 Hemi of 6100 cm3 OHV with 2 valves per cylinder capable of delivering 425 horsepower at 6200 rpm and a maximum torque of 570 Nm at 4800 rpm.
Its performance will have to be outstanding to compete with its rivals, an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h is estimated in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 300 km/h. The transmission is via an A580 5-speed automatic gearbox and the traction, logically, is rear. Features vented disc brakes with ABS on all four wheels. The latter are 275/35 R19 forward and 335/30 R20 back.
The interior offers comfortable accommodation for two people and is quite elegant considering it is a sports car. Combines black color on the edges of doors and seats, with ecru on the steering wheel and centers of seats and doors. The indicator watches have a white background and are large in size. Although the windows are tiny, the clear ceiling allows very good natural lighting in the interior.
I think one of Chrysler's successes is the profound change he's making in the message he sends to his customers. Until ten or only five years ago, this company was only associated with mid-range vehicles for everyday sedans.
It now features models such as Crossfire, 300C SRT-8, Magnum, Viper and short-term projects such as Charger and Firepower. His conceptions and design criteria, regardless of personal tastes, propose a new style of American design.
In search of a new image that generates growth in the market, they assume the risk of changing the trend of their previous vehicles. Cases opposed to Chrysler are Ford and Pontiac, who betting on the nostalgia of their buyers, decided to reflect old models leaving very aside creativity...
© Adrián Blanco 2005 — Prohibited the total or partial reproduction of text and/or images without explicit written consent of the author. —