Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: Don’t Put A Deposit On It Now
You may be eager to be among the handful of people who get to own the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. But that that excitement shouldn’t get you carried away when it comes to putting a deposit on the dragstrip-focused machine.
It’s happening all over again. The case of Dodge dealers trying to literally cash in on the hype surrounding a new car isn’t new. They have done it before with the Hellcat and now with the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon being hailed as the next big thing, the greedy ones in the dealer network is flexing their extortionist muscle one more time.
Roadshow reports that some dealers have started taking deposits from customers, which is totally absurd. In fact, Dodge is yet to make an announcement on the pricing and the allotment of the 3000 Challenger SRT Demon cars across the dealer networks in North America is yet to be done.
The dealers will get to make some easy cash, piggybacking on the hype machine. And many customers will be left betrayed by false promises of a top spot in the queue to receive the car concerned.
Speaking to Roadshow, Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands at FCA said,
"Technically, no one should be taking any deposits. They can’t physically take an order, and they shouldn’t be taking any deposits. We haven’t given the dealers the allocation methodology, the allocation numbers or opened up the order banks yet."
Promising the customer delivery of the vehicle and then shamelessly ripping them off isn’t just a breach of trust. It can also be termed as a violation of applicable laws.
In fact Kuniskis even admitted that Dodge is aware of the practice that has been going on for some years. But the FCA’s approach of making peace with it is not the right direction to take. Or that’s how this sounded like.
"They’re much more careful because of what we went through on Hellcat. Because we had dealers take deposits on Hellcats, they would take 10, 15, 20 deposits, and then they would only ultimately get allocated 5 cars. And then they would have upset customers. So they’re being much more — or at least it appears — that they’re being much more careful this time."
All of this makes it both ridiculous and shady for Dodge dealers (or at least some of them) to demand money from clients when they shouldn’t be. What if the dealer in question isn’t allotted with the same number of cars as the number of deposits it has already taken?
Next: 5 Reasons To Be Excited About The Dodge Demon
It’s high time that FCA-Dodge takes proactive steps and corrective measures to address this issue. Building up the hype and getting enthusiasts and buyers excited about the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is one thing. Letting a bunch of greedy dealers extorting money from that same crowd is another.