Gas, tires and insurance probably don’t matter much if you’re in the market for a 2012 Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang, but safety does.

The  Camaro and Mustang GT come with more-or-less comparable horsepower and grunt off the line.  What the test drive won’t show you is that the Camaro is the first car to earn a perfect rating from the  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

NHTSA uses front, side and rollover tests to determine a vehicle’s safety during a crash and have strengthened their standards since 2011. The Camaro earned a perfect score in all categories, where the Mustang only earned four of five stars in the front and side crash tests.

The front-end tests are conducted at 35 mph and the side crash at 38.5 mph, as well as a slower 20 mph side-impact test against a narrow pole. Finally the NHTSA uses a mathematical calculation to determine how likely a rollover is.

To be fair,  most muscle car fanatics would call this story incomplete. The Dodge Challenger among many other cars have yet to be tested for 2012.

The next best-rated were the Honda Accord and Kia Optima, earning a five-star rating in each category except the side-impact tests where they only got four.

[Source:  NHTSA]

Mopar Underground has unleashed their Dodge Challenger SRT8 ACR on the Las Vegas Convention Center show floor and it’s every bit as awesome as we expected. The Challenger SRT8 392 has been influenced by the Viper SRT10 ACR’s styling while the 392 under the hood packs even more punch with Mopar’s custom headers and cat-back exhaust.

On the outside, the white body has been contrasted with subtle red accents, a charcoal roof and plenty of carbon fiber on the hood, deck lid, rear spoiler and tail light surround. 20-inch black wheels were fitted to each corner that sits nicely on the rear fenders thanks to a set of coilovers.

The interior is clearly race-inspired, sporting carbon fiber door panels, red roll bars and carbon fiber racing seats that have been covered in Katzkin leather. We still hope that Dodge or Mopar will announce some sort of availability on this model but we’re sure avid enthusiasts will be able to build it on their own through Mopar’s extensive parts catalog.

GALLERY: Dodge Challenger SRT8 ACR

The Ford Mustang has beaten the Chevrolet Camaro in sales for the month of June 2011. A great comeback considering the Mustang suffered one of its worst months in May with 35% decrease in sales over the same month of the previous year and just 6,607 sales. This June, 8,835 Mustangs were sold compared to 8,486 Camaros.

The Mustang won this month but the Camaro has had strong sales numbers throughout the first half of the year with 48,761 sales compared to the Mustang with 39,041 units sold.  The Dodge Challenger was left in the dust with 3,384 sales in June and 20,161 in the first half year.

[Source: Muscular Mustangs]

Chrysler’s Dodge Challenger muscle car is in trouble. Slumping sales have shown that consumers are not satisfied with the Challenger and would rather choose a Mustang or Camaro.

Chrysler has recently poured a significant amount of money into the 2011 model. The front and rear suspensions have been revamped and re-engineered to improve handling and ride quality. Furthermore, the new standard 3.6-liter V6 was implemented providing a 55-hp boost over the much criticized 3.5-liter V6.

You would think these changes would boost sales. Think again. Sales are only up by 15% over the bleak year-ago period. That may sound pretty good, but May sales actually dropped 11 percent.

Sadly, the Challenger is averaging just 3,355 cars sales per month, shocking figures for a car that just went through a redesign. So far this year, Dodge sold 16,777 Challengers. Compare that to Chevy moving 40,275 Camaros and Ford selling 30,206 Mustangs.

GALLERY: 2011 Dodge Challenger

[Source: Automotive News]

Click here to read AutoGude’s 2011 Dodge Challenger Review

Those who are scratching their heads on what a Kowalski Edition Dodge Challenger is were probably born way after 1971, or just never heard of the movie Vanishing Point. Released in 1971, the flick was all about Kowaski, a vehicle delivery driver, that had to go from Denver, Colorado to San Francisco, California in less than 15 hours. So with a bet on the line, Kowalski hops into a white 1970 Dodge Challenger and flies through the empty highways of the West Coast.

To pay homage to the great film, a dealership out in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania has created 10 Kowalski Edition Dodge Challengers. Starting with an Inaugural Edition SRT8 (in white of course), the dealership removes the stripe, adds some custom decals and 20-inch Alcoa SRT wheels. On the inside, the seats feature a dark shade and a wood grain Hurst pistol grip shifter, attempting to look as similar as possible to the movie’s 1970 version. And of course, a numbered plaque designates which Kowalski Edition Challenger it is.

No pricing was announced, but apparently all 10 vehicles are already spoken for.

GALLERY: Kowalski Edition Dodge Challenger

A Dodge Challenger was struck down far before its time at the Brampton, Ontario factory—bursting into flames right in the final stages on the assembly line.

The fire was caused by a heat lamp that had ignited some paperwork that was attached to the car. Nobody was injured and no other cars were counted as casualties, as the sprinkler system quickly put it out. “Things happen from time to time,” said Ardis Snow, CAW unit chairperson at the plant. “They need to determine if it was human error or product related.”

The photos leaked onto the Moparts forum where some believe that this was a rare 392 SRT model, noting the wheels and the hood scoop. ”Fires happen all the time in the automotive industry,” said Snow. Clearly, the folks at Chrysler are adjusting well to the foibles of Italian ownership.

[Source: Wheels.ca]

The 2011 Formula Drift season is just around the corner, and competing vehicles are out in full testing mode. Samuel Hubinette hasn’t been at the top of the podium for a couple of years now, but it looks like this year his two-car team will be something to look out for. He’ll be behind the wheel of his Dodge Challenger, while Dean Kearney of Ireland will be piloting the infamous Dodge Viper SRT-10.

Both cars are sporting new looks for the 2011 season, welcoming sponsorship from Dodge, V-LEDs, BFGoodrich and Federal Tires. Dodge will be the primary sponsor of Hubinette’s Challenger, while V-LEDs is the primary sponsor of Kearney’s Viper. Interestingly enough, it looks like Hubinette will be driving on his traditional BFGoodrich rubber while Kearney will be burning off Federal Tires.

Kearney captured the 2009 European Pro Drift Championship, and with the experienced Hubinette by his side, it’ll be an interesting year to see how these two battle it out with the rest of the field. We’ll be looking forward to the season opener on April 8-9th at Long Beach, California.

Check out the video of Hubinette testing his Challenger after the break, along with the official press release.

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Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has finally released a supercharger package for the 08-10 Dodge Challenger, taking performance to 500-rwhp and 450 ft-lbs of torque on the 6.1L HEMI. That’s good enough for a 12.03 second quarter mile blast at 120-mph.

The supercharger upgrade is available for both the 5.7L and 6.1L HEMI engines and comes with a Magnuson TVS2300 supercharger, powdercoated black. An upgraded thermostat, fuel injectors and intake system are also included in the performance package.

Lingenfelter will also install the supercharger upgrade package for those interested, and it comes with Lingenfelter’s 3 year / 36,000 mile warranty.

GALLERY: Lingenfelter Dodge Challenger Supercharger Upgrade

Here’s some more American-tuned muscle that will be making its way to the SEMA show floor next month. Built by CULT Energy Drink, this Dodge Challenger SRT8 sports a menacing flat black profile, one-off custom fabricated widebody kit and a supercharged 6.1-liter V8 HEMI.

Clearly the goal of CULT was to get plenty of attention with their Challenger project, and getting these awesome photos done by Webb Bland is a good start. We’re loving the smooth widebody conversion, menacing red lights, massive brakes and the big blower popping out of the hood.

We don’t have many other details on the car, but we’ll be sure to check it out in person at SEMA 2010. One thing’s for sure, we’re pretty impressed by the work on the vehicle from bumper to bumper, and how not a single piece of the car seems gaudy or tacky. It’s all very tastefully done and clearly the fabrication work is high quality. Hell, even the minimal sticker placement by CULT is acceptable.

Check out our SEMA Preview here, which will be updated with live 2010 SEMA Show coverage starting November 2nd.

[Source: TeamSpeed]

Check out the amazing photos after the jump:

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