Ask The Best And Brightest: Is A New Dodge Magnum A No-Brainer Or A Flop Waiting To Happen?
A few weeks back, SRT CEO and Chrysler Group Design boss Ralph Gilles hinted that a new LX-platform station wagon could be coming back, as the NYT reported:
“With the Magnum, we owned the station wagon segment,” Mr. Gilles said. “It was always a pleasure to go to car shows and trade fairs and see the number of Magnums that owners had personalized with such obvious loving care.”
Asked if a design for a second-generation Magnum might be found in one of his sketch pads, Mr. Gilles just smiled.
“Stay tuned,” he said. “Great things are coming. That’s all I can say.”
But now Gilles is changing his tune completely, telling the Fox Car Report that the rumor simply came about because the launch event was held in California (one of the Magnum’s biggest markets), and Gilles noted that he saw them “everywhere” and that every one of them was customized. While noting that the he “needs to get to the bottom of that” customized Magnum phenomenon, Gilles made it clear that the “rumor” was just him waxing nostalgic and that “we’re focusing on the products we have.”
But if Chrysler is desperate to make inroads in California, and the Magnum resonated there, might there be some sense in a neo-Magnum? After all, Sergio Marchionne has noted with disapproval how few variations are available for the LX platform, and said he would not have re-invested in an update if it were up to him (and really, putting an LX update ahead of a good C- or D-segment platform was a pretty shockingly poor business decision). On the other hand, the Magnum only ever had one year over 50k units… and that might not even be worth the cost of even a rebody. What say you?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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I dunno - I'd probably bite on a new Dodge or Chrysler wagon version of their new cars. I just finished a round of shopping for a wagon of similar size and ended up with a very well-maintained 2004 E320 wagon. A Magnum would have been a no-brainer except for the interior. In the end, it was a toss-up between a Volvo V70, the Benz, and an A6 wagon. I love having a car with the additional utility of the wagon back-end, and don't like driving SUVs. I don't know how big the market is, but if it's not a huge change from the sedan version then it may be worth the cost to make it. I don't know what the numbers look like for Audi, MB, or BMW on sales for the wagon versions of their mid-sized sedans, but it can't be that high. But for some of us, it's exactly what we want. If I'm buying a wagon and being completely honest about how I'm going to use it, then I don't give a crap about manual transmission, diesel, blah blah. I want car ride/handling/economy, the utility of the wagon back-end, and something comfortable for my family to take on a road trip. A stick and/or an oil burner are bonuses, but I still live in North America and am something of a realist. The Mercedes fills the bill very nicely for me, but I've got a warranty to cover the (serious) gremlins I'm likely to encounter over the next few years. When it's time to replace it, I'm going to look for something similar in terms of size and shape. If there's a Charger or 300 wagon out there, it's likely to be at the top of my list. Otherwise, I'll go looking for whatever is available. I'd love to buy an American car, but only if they're making what I want. It's too bad the interiors were so bad on the Chryslers. I would much rather have spent less and gotten a Magnum, but I spend 3 hours a day in the car and didn't feel like punishing myself that bad.
I didn't understand why they canceled it in 2008...other than they uglied up the front clip on it. Which I noticed made it onto the 2011 300 now instead. The problem with the Magnum was it was a hatchback, not a wagon, no 3rd row seating kills it for actual wagon shoppers. I have a B-body Caprice wagon and love it, and 3rd row seating is mandatory.