With 840 supercharged horsepower, the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon can burn through a quarter-mile in a Guinness-record 9.65 seconds. Today, Dodge announced a novel plan to ensure dealers don’t burn customers with stiff markups on a muscle car that already starts from $86,090, including a gas-guzzler tax.
Dodge said that its earliest production run of Demons, with lower VIN serial numbers, will go to dealers who promise to sell them “at or below” the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Dodge will demand a notarized “acknowledgment document,” signed by both dealer and potential customer, that includes their agreed-upon contract price. That document must be received by a so-called “Demon Concierge” at Dodge before the car will be counted as a sold order and slated for production. Dealers can begin placing those orders on June 21.
Call it a version of “first dibs”: Dealers who insist on selling a Demon for more than sticker price will be pushed back in line, and their cars won’t be built until the “priority production” is completed. But with only 3,000 Demons coming to American showrooms beginning this fall in a single-year, 2018 model run (plus 300 more for Canada), it seems possible that dealers with dollar signs in their eyes might end up so far back in line that they risk getting no Demons at all.
Read the full article from The Drive: https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/11707/dodge-plays-hardball-to-halt-dealer-markups-on-challenger-srt-demon
