AutoWeek, along with other media outlets, broke their agreement with Chrysler Press and published two pictures of the production Challenger. They were supposed to be embargoed until the Chicago auto show next month. This is how print media works... the paradigm obviously needs some latitude for internet media.
Follow the link above to the article in AutoWeek to get both pictures and the details.
Also, AutoWeek accepted my review of their article and it's copied below.
It's good to see that the Challenger is a serious entry from a technical standpoint. All independent suspension - instead of the stone-age Mustang’s low-brow solid axle. Double a-arms up front, instead of the cheap strut used by the Camaro and Mustang. And nice multi-piston Brembos at all 4 corners, instead of just up front. Not that this will be a serious handling car - that award will probably go to the Camaro (again). But it won't be a poor-handling throwback like the Mustang, especially the porky Shelby with 58% of its 4000 pounds over the front wheels. Ridiculous.
So even if it doesn't pull notable numbers it will still have reasonable dynamics and good overall balance. That's far more than you could say about the original "muscle cars". Although like the original Challenger, it'll be the biggest of the muscle coupes. That's disappointing to me but it's probably the best that can be done on the current iteration of this platform.
It's also nice to see the styling is clean and mature - Chrysler didn't see the need to dress it up with kid-stuff buffoonery. The Challenger shows us that a car can project mature performance without having to load up on flash. I would, however, have liked to have seen it done without the fake hood scoops. Even if they could somehow be connected, they can't be efficient where they’re located and wouldn’t provide any measurable benefit.
Because so few Challengers will be built, I expect the dealers to gouge us on the pricing at first. Given the sales figures of the typical Chrysler dealer, they can certainly use the money.
It’s also nice to see that we can have the heritage without the baggage. I'm speaking of Shelby, who of course had almost no involvement with the car bearing his name. Technically, his name adds about as much substance as his charity is reported to have. His name is there solely to add appeal to a certain mindset and drive sales volume across the Mustang line. Snake oil.
I’d place this car in the middle between the Camaro on the high end (technical ability and value) and the Mustang on the low end (weak ability and little interest to a driving enthusiast). Make your choice while you can; given the CAFÉ laws and increasing focus on emissions you won’t see this size car or these engines much longer. The cars themselves will still exist, but on far more appropriately-sized platforms and with far more efficient engines.
