Chrysler Group LLC, for all its improved performance lately, doesn’t sell a lot of luxury cars to wealthy aficionados of German sports sedans. The new Chrysler 300 SRT8 is out to change that.
With a sticker price that can top $60,000 and a souped-up Hemi engine that kicks out 470 horsepower, the 300 SRT8 is getting rave reviews reminiscent of its 1950s and 1960s muscle- car days. Road & Track magazine called the 300 SRT8 a “brute in a suit.” Wired magazine deemed it “a nearly perfect car,” while the New York Times (NYT) said it “delivers 90 percent of the German cars’ performance for barely half the price.”
Those are heady notices for a company that sells just 1 percent of its vehicles in the rarefied $50,000-and-above price range. And favorable comparisons to high-end hot rods like Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW)’s $90,000 BMW M5 sedan and the $89,800 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG from Daimler AG can do a lot to elevate the Chrysler brand, known more for the Town & Country minivan than for sumptuous supercars.