At the close of 2006, Dodge can claim to be the Chrysler Group's best-selling brand, having moved 1.3 million vehicles globally over the course of the year.

Fast-forward forty years after the original Charger's release, and we find Dodge to be Chrysler's self-appointed hot rod division. Marketing dictates that Dodge needs a more aggressively defined distance from Chrysler.

Yet it is a rambunctious, somewhat inconsistent hot rod division. The Viper is an overgrown muscle car for silly prices. Its Magnum wagon is to its Chrysler 300 sister as pick-up truck to crossover. Lower down the scale, the Neon SRT-4 is the best little screamer Dodge has produced since the mid-80s Omni GLH, but Chrysler has stolen the SRT badge for its 300C and Crossfire - and, with it, part of Dodge's raison d'être.


The Dodge Charger of '66 was the first Chrysler product to use a HEMI V8. An updated HEMI, introduced by the Chrysler Group in 2002, powers both Chrysler and Dodge models.