[cegerer]

The new Challenger is a boring design. It's TOO close to the original. The new Lamborghini Miura redo is the same deal. They both look like ChipFoosePimpMyRide versions of the originals.

Guess I'm not the only one. Here's Peter Delorenzo's take on it from the AutoExtremist:

It was a good run, but Chrysler's role as industry design leader officially comes to an end in Detroit. It seems like we have been talking about Chrysler design excellence for a long time now - and we have. From the glory days of the product renaissance led by Bob Lutz and Tom Gale to as recently as two years ago, Chrysler could always be counted on to deliver great stuff for the major auto shows - no matter how mediocre and uninspiring their street vehicles were. But as in all great runs, nothing lasts forever - and the wheels came off Chrysler's golden design era with a thud at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show.

First of all, the Challenger, though obviously calculated to be an improvement on the original in every respect, was far too literal in the flesh. Yes, it was cool and everything, but Chip Foose could have easily created something just like it in his shop. And the fact that Chrysler designers went around "fixing" all of the things that were wrong on the original and stopped there, left them no room to take the car further or "reach" with it in the future. The Challenger garnered lots of attention for Chrysler in the weeks leading up to the show, but by the time the actual media days arrived, it came off as a one-off custom hot rod designed to add a little eye candy to the Dodge display - and nothing more.

Best Face-Plant into the Sea of Mediocrity and Biggest Fall from the Top. The media darlings formerly known as the "geniuses" at Chrysler Design imploded at Cobo Hall in an embarrassingly overwrought performance that won't soon be forgotten. It wasn't just the monumentally silly Imperial, which will go into the Toon Car Hall of Fame - with the five-year qualification period being waived immediately. The Challenger could have and should have been relegated to an after-school project and given to a junior college to flesh-out instead of being called a "concept" - because any hot rodder worth his or her "car guy" credentials could have done that car in their sleep - in their garage.