Concept Dodge Demon ?

[DMZ73]

No, unfortunately, it's not.

They know better than to let me drive!

The execs have a long history of not letting us drive our own concept cars. Maybe a few, and it is a limited few have driven their concepts, but not more than 35mph.

I was talking to a journalist the other day. He drove in the Jeep Hurricane. He said when it went into Zero steer mode, (< http://www.pbase.com/dmz73/image/63591465 >) he nearly lost his cookies. I told him he was lucky, I never had that oportunity. He felt pretty special. I guess it is more imprtant to let the press get a ride than the designers.

I never got to drive the Jeep Rescue, The Jeep Hurricane or the Demon.

Here is a link of my other interior work.

Jeep Hurricane: < http://www.pbase.com/dmz73/image/63569852 >

Jeep Rescue: < http://www.cartype.com/images/page/Jeep_Rescue_4.jpg >

Here's a sketch  looking to the front of the vehicel. Note the shocks...
< http://autotelegraaf.nl/vanonzeredactie/images/19838.1.gen.jpg >

Dan

[Super Blue 72]

Very cool stuff!  The Hurricane is crazy!

I like your toy page too.  I think I have a couple of those Stomper 4x4s in the attic somewhere....

[Ornamental]

Whoa! I really like this Demon. The front got a hungry look, with a grille that looks like it's hungry for some rice and sauerkraut. It looks like it should come with a stick to pry out Miatas and MR2's from the radiator. Even if i dislike the bulky corporate crosshairs that absolutely have to screw up the looks of Dodges, it does'nt look bad at all here. The two tips on the front spoiler are just fine, but if you guys are serious about releasing the Demon, let bodykit builders have production-cars delivered early, so they can screw up a good design, and let the ricer-hearted have it their way early. Seen from behind, the rear end is cool too, maybe a little on the safe side for a roadster, it reminds me of newer french and italian designs on passenger cars. But then that's not necessarily a bad thing; too radical, and buyers will run away screaming and buy Toyotas.
It looks very contemporarily to me, in a good way. It stands a little out, but i would'nt feel like a runaway circus freak driving in this one.

I like the way the dash is built up, not a big wall one feels compelled to bring extra cushions to sit on in order to be able to look over it.
Small and clean instrument cluster, tells us what we need to know, and that's that. Which is good, if one wants to have the feeling of piloting a space shuttle, become an astronaut or buy aftermarket crap from Ali Baba's kebab and car styling shop.
The doorskins are good, i like them as they are, provided it's actually possible to rest an arm on the armrest while driving the car. Seats looks nice too.

If DC does build this car and uses the name Demon I doubt that the name would help sell any, I also doubt that the percentage of the public that knows the name Demon could make a connection to this model. Therefore to reach the target consumer a more appropriate name would be called for, maybe something that begins with SR....SRZ ?.?

Who give a sh[t about the connection to the old A-body nobody but a few guys like us knows about?
The name is just great, Dodge got the rights for it, and they should just d**ned well start using it!
While other manurefacturers got hippie names like Sky, Miata, or just plain boring names like TT, Z4, Dodge got THE DEMON!

The engine is the same one that were used in the SRT-4's?
Having a kick-ass SRT Demon readily available should helpe the image for the car. Can't just call it Demon, and let it be outrun by a some or another career-mom's TT now, can we?
 

[DMZ73]

Thanks,


Best compliments yet.
"I like the way the dash is built up, not a big wall one feels compelled to bring extra cushions to sit on in order to be able to look over it.
Small and clean instrument cluster, tells us what we need to know, and that's that. Which is good, if one wants to have the feeling of piloting a space shuttle, become an astronaut or buy aftermarket crap from Ali Baba's kebab and car styling shop.
The doorskins are good, i like them as they are, provided it's actually possible to rest an arm on the armrest while driving the car. Seats looks nice too."


You are hitting the nail on the head. I like this. "it reminds me of newer french and italian designs on passenger cars. "

That gives me the warm fuzzies. I respect the italian cars, and I like some of the french stuff. I am a big fan of early iconic coupes. To me, timeless designs are so hard to create- but they make it look so damn  easy.


I used to own a 70 Datsun 240Z. I dug that car for all it was worth. It was no Challenger, but it ran like hell, and I drove it like I stole it.

Dan

[sleepychallenger]

all i can say is 

if your going to redo something, do it like it was!!! 

[DMZ73]

So then, what would you say if it was the FireArrow?

Better yet, what if we called it the buddy, pal or a widget? Don't get me wrong, I see your point, and understand your point of view.

Our group, i.e. Design Office, marketing, international, PR, etc. Chose this name as a tie in from the brand side of things. According to them, the Demon name has nothing to do with the connotation of history in THIS market segemnt. Trust me, most 20 somethings don't know that we made a Demon back in the day. There is a fringe percentage that has a clue aboout the name, but it does not account for a much.
I dig the tie in, it's just a baby brother to the viper. What would you call it...It's got an aggressive face... attitude..drive...

Here'sa  question: So what about the Aspen? Did you rejoice or cringe when you heard that name?
I had a hard time with it myself, but I though it was a cool name.

Dan

[360 'CUDA]

I don't think bringing the Aspen name back helps sales

I thought the name Demon was killed by Chrysler because of complaints by conservative customers who didn't like the religous connotations 

[MEK-Dangerfield]

I don't think bringing the Aspen name back helps sales

 I would agree. Especially since it isn't a car anymore.  I saw one first hand. I would call it a Durango with lots of chrome, and some stupid lines down the hood.  The hood didn't do it for me. 


  Mike

[MJS73]

I don't think there's any historical connection to the A-body Demon, because the old Demon had so little history to begin with. There's just no history to build off of.  The Aspen is the same.  It can only be sacrilegious to give a new car an old name if the old car holds special value.  The Duster was the A-body name to respect, the Demon was badge-engineered to give Dodge a fastback and the Aspen was a re-badged Volare.  I don't think DCX's intent in calling the Chrysler SUV the Aspen was to pick up sales through nostalgia, it's just a good name that they have the rights to.  Very few car names have special appeal and I don't see any point to retiring a perfectly good name when a car is re-designed, except if the old car holds special value.

I think the Aspen is a big improvement over the Durango, which has a very awkward look, especially at the front end.  The Aspen smooths all of that out.  I liked the old Durango much better.  Ditto for the Dakota.  And I'd much rather see it called the Aspen than the alphabet soup nonsense that Cadillac (and now Lincoln, in a copycat move) uses.

Mike

[71bigblock]

I think the Aspen is a big improvement over the Durango, which has a very awkward look, especially at the front end.  The Aspen smooths all of that out.  I liked the old Durango much better.  Ditto for the Dakota.  And I'd much rather see it called the Aspen than the alphabet soup nonsense that Cadillac (and now Lincoln, in a copycat move) uses.

I really can relate to that.  I love the way the aspen looks compared to the durango, so much smoother.  I like the first gen durango/second gen dakota better than the new ones.  I hate that "alphabet soup" too   

[DMZ73]

"I think the Aspen is a big improvement over the Durango, which has a very awkward look, especially at the front end. "

You can say that again.

Don't ask.    Uarghhhhh.........We all hated it too.

Glad to hear you guys are so up on things. Other sites don't understand the name game...

Great comments guys. I am VERY glad to be a member here.

Dan

[sleepychallenger]

if it is suppoesed to be like a mini viper, why not call it slither, or copperhead (wasnt there suppoesed to be a car called that)

[Andrew]

Copperheads a good name, but people would get It mixed up with the concept car dodge built a few years back.

A bit off topic, but I have a question.

If a game has a concept car in it (say gran turismo) are the handling characteristics in the game based off those of the actual car, or do the game designers have to make an educated guess as far as handling etc.?

[sleepychallenger]

Sorry Andrew, cant answer your game question. but if the copperhead was never put into production, doesnt that mean that the name could still be used for another production model?

[MJS73]

if it is suppoesed to be like a mini viper, why not call it slither

How about Garter?

Mike