Talkin’ To The Next Generation

Mopar® headed out west to Southern California and the Chrysler Spring Festival where the brand announced two new projects geared toward the tuner crowd.

Words: Darren Jacobs

The Fifth Annual Chrysler Spring Festival, held in Irvine, Calif. on March 20, witnessed a record crowd of LX/LC platform vehicle owners gathered together on a bright and sunny Southern California Saturday. The largest LX/LC platform vehicle owner event in the world served as the perfect setting as Mopar® revealed two new projects with renowned custom-car builder Rich Evans geared toward the next generation of vehicle enthusiasts.

Evans and Brian Rogos, Senior Manager–Accessories and Performance, Mopar, stepped on stage before a sea of modified and tricked out Dodge Chargers, Dodge Challengers and Chrysler 300s (the impressive car count was just under 600) to announce that Evans will utilize Mopar parts to bring to life a customized Dodge Challenger for the 2010 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, Nev., Nov. 3–6, 2010. Evans will also serve as a judge in a newly formed tuner category of Mopar’s “Top Eliminator” enthusiast recognition program.

Owner of Huntington Beach Bodyworks and Rich Evans Designs, Evans is a master automotive fabricator, welder and painter. His custom-made rides have appeared in numerous movies and television programs, including Pimp My Ride, Monster Garage, Man Cave and Chop, Cut & Rebuild. His Mopar-flavored ride for the 2010 SEMA Show will begin with a base 2010 Dodge Challenger. Evans will employ an array of Mopar parts, some modified with his own fabricated spin, in order to create a new automotive work of art.

“Rich Evans has crafted some of the most remarkable customized rides on the street today,” said Pietro Gorlier, President & CEO – Mopar Service, Parts & Customer Care, Chrysler Group LLC. “This Mopar SEMA project will demonstrate to our customers what they can create with proven, quality-tested Mopar parts and accessories.”

Evans will also act as a judge for the new tuner category of the Mopar “Top Eliminator” program. Now in its fourth year, the program highlights restyled or customized Chrysler, Jeep®, Dodge or Ram Truck vehicles of Mopar enthusiasts. The new tuner category winner will be selected from enthusiast nominations based on creatively applying technology to a current-model vehicle while maintaining brand integrity and values. Enthusiast-builder nominations can be submitted at www.mopar.com/tuner.

All “Top Eliminator” winners, from the various categories, will be displayed in the Mopar Alley at the 2010 SEMA Show.

“I’m pumped up to team up with a premier organization like Mopar on these thrilling new projects,” said Evans. “Together, I think we can seize the attention of the young Next-Gen crowd with the new ‘Top Eliminator’ tuner award and the SEMA-car build while still holding the attention of today’s enthusiasts. You will see an amazing Mopar/Rich Evans creation in the Mopar exhibit at SEMA in November.”

Mopar’s presence at the event also included the Mopar Direct Connection rig, where Evans signed autographs and attendees checked out Mopar parts and engine displays and snapped up Mopar apparel available for purchase. Mopar’s decision to play a prominent role at the enthusiast event was most welcomed by event organizer John Fortuno, himself owner of a modded Chrysler 300 and a passionate advocate of the next generation of Chrysler Group LLC vehicles.

“This year we had Mopar at the event and they came out big,” gushed Fortuno. “They had the Direct Connection rig with vehicle displays and the latest Mopar parts available for the LX/LC platform. Throughout the day attendees packed the Mopar display to visit and check out the latest and greatest from Mopar. With the team up with Rich Evans, people in this scene are excited to see the 2010 SEMA build and look forward to updates as the project progresses.”

In addition to Mopar’s announcements, an impressive contingent of Chrysler Group LLC representatives made the trek west to support the enthusiast event and hear valuable customer feedback. Speaking to the gathered owners was Joe Dehner, Head of Ram and Dodge Design, Product Design Office; Tim Kuniskis, Head of Chrysler Brand Marketing; Mark Mallie, Head of Dodge Product Marketing — Heritage Vehicles; and Joe Grace, Vehicle Line Executive, A/B Segment and Street and Racing Technology (SRT®). Also in attendance was Dodge-backed Formula DRIFT star Samuel Hübinette.

In tow with the heavy hitters from the Auburn Hills, Mich. headquarters were two Chrysler 300S vehicles on display—the first time the vehicles were shown outside of an auto show.

“We come out here not because it’s beautiful, but because we like to see what the enthusiasts are doing with the cars and how passionate they are about it,” said Kuniskis. “The Chrysler 300S is a direct result of this event. I was here last year and I was blown away by the attention to detail the enthusiasts have. If you look at the 300S, there are subtle little things like changes to the color of the badge, tricks that we did to the seat and some things that we did to the wheels, all because of feedback we learned from the enthusiasts at this event. We take information back and put it into future product.”

Added Mallie, “The next generation Dodge Charger is coming soon, and it will be interesting to see the impact this audience has on the car and how we can translate their feedback into changes. Because we are listening.”

“The representation from Chrysler was unbelievable this year,” said Fortuno. “They truly have embraced this community and look to us for their current and future plans. These owners have an enormous amount of faith in Chrysler and their presence at the Spring Festival shows them that they care about the community. We had representation from all areas of the organization and they interacted with the owners throughout the day. This is where Chrysler gets to see it first hand from the grassroots owners who live the dreams of the modern day 
car culture.”