Bobby007
08-29-2005, 02:38 PM
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0507/27/C01-260434.htm
Forget Bo and Luke Duke, the new Dodge Charger is winning over the likes of Twista and the Ying Yang Twins.
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group has agreed to allow several hip-hop artists to feature the Charger sedan in music videos and other promotions in a move that could help expand its reach with the MTV Generation and give a key new model a push out of the gate.
Dodge has received requests from a range of hip-hop musicians, including reggae-style rapper Sean Paul, who dropped a Charger in a video for his new single "We Be Burnin," and party-rap duo the Ying Yang Twins, who use the muscle car in a TV commercial to promote their new album "USA (United States of Atlanta)."
The requests are the latest sign of the rap world's fondness for new Chrysler vehicles such as the Chrysler 300 sedan and Dodge Magnum wagon, whose in-your-face designs have offered an ideal palette for the oversized wheels, special front grilles and other accessories that have become the calling cards of the hip-hop crowd.
While Chrysler says it has not chased after the deals, it welcomes the opportunity to broaden the appeal of its brands.
"We certainly aren't going to try to stop this from happening," said Julie Roehm, Chrysler's director of marketing communications.
The Charger received an early blessing from one of hip-hop's biggest names, 50 Cent, who after seeing the beefy sedan debut at the Detroit auto show requested the first production model. In a January phone message to the publisher of auto-customizing magazine Dub, the chart-topping rapper asked, "What I gotta' do to get that Dodge Charger first? I need that."
50 Cent got his wish. This spring, he became the first customer to take delivery of a 2006 Charger.
And a wave of interest from other rappers followed.
The new Charger filled a vacuum left by big sport sedans like the 1996 Chevrolet Impala, which could accommodate 22-inch wheels and offered ample room for accessories, said Myles Kovacs, president and co-founder of Dub.
"By hitting that market, it gives the Charger instant credibility with the street," he said.
Hip-hop heavyweight Twista and rising Houston rapper Mike Jones have shown off their new Chargers on the MTV series "Cribs."
Jones will also grace the cover of Dub in August with his decked-out black Charger to promote his debut album, "Who is Mike Jones?"
In addition, two other hip-hop artists are in talks to use footage of a Charger in their music videos. And the car has popped up in a number of other rap videos without formal permission from the automaker.
The new rear-drive sedan is a four-door update of the classic fastback that was born in the early 1960s and was later known for as the Luke boys' creek-jumping General Lee on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard."
The 2006 model, which rides on the same underbody as the 300 and Magnum, went on sale this spring. Through June, sales were 6,195, according to Autodata Corp. But Chrysler says it's still ramping up inventories.
The automaker is wise to accept offers from hip-hop artists to feature the Charger in promotions, even if the hardscrabble image of many rappers is out of step with Chrysler's typically conservative marketing approach, said Michael Tchong, an analyst at Ubercool LLC in San Francisco.
"My sense is that any type of exposure that is almost an implicit endorsement by an artist is going to help propel a brand."
He said Busta Rhymes' hit single "Pass the Courvoisier" almost single-handedly led to a 20 percent boost in sales of one of the brand's cognac lines two years ago.
Chrysler has already benefited from the interest of A-list rapper Snoop Dogg, who last year phoned Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche to ask how to get his own 300 sedan.
But there may be a greater opportunity to reach out to younger buyers through the Dodge brand, whose average buyer is just younger than those of the Chrysler brand. The average Dodge buyer is 45 years old, just slightly under the median age of 46 for all U.S. car buyers, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
Though the Charger is being heavily promoted to the NASCAR crowd, the interest from the hip-hop world could also give it crossover appeal among different demographic and racial groups.
But it's unlikely to score with hip-hop's trendsetters the same way the Chrysler 300C did last year, Kovacs said.
"I don't think it as obvious as the 300C. It's going to a different market. It's less luxury and more muscle."
Forget Bo and Luke Duke, the new Dodge Charger is winning over the likes of Twista and the Ying Yang Twins.
DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group has agreed to allow several hip-hop artists to feature the Charger sedan in music videos and other promotions in a move that could help expand its reach with the MTV Generation and give a key new model a push out of the gate.
Dodge has received requests from a range of hip-hop musicians, including reggae-style rapper Sean Paul, who dropped a Charger in a video for his new single "We Be Burnin," and party-rap duo the Ying Yang Twins, who use the muscle car in a TV commercial to promote their new album "USA (United States of Atlanta)."
The requests are the latest sign of the rap world's fondness for new Chrysler vehicles such as the Chrysler 300 sedan and Dodge Magnum wagon, whose in-your-face designs have offered an ideal palette for the oversized wheels, special front grilles and other accessories that have become the calling cards of the hip-hop crowd.
While Chrysler says it has not chased after the deals, it welcomes the opportunity to broaden the appeal of its brands.
"We certainly aren't going to try to stop this from happening," said Julie Roehm, Chrysler's director of marketing communications.
The Charger received an early blessing from one of hip-hop's biggest names, 50 Cent, who after seeing the beefy sedan debut at the Detroit auto show requested the first production model. In a January phone message to the publisher of auto-customizing magazine Dub, the chart-topping rapper asked, "What I gotta' do to get that Dodge Charger first? I need that."
50 Cent got his wish. This spring, he became the first customer to take delivery of a 2006 Charger.
And a wave of interest from other rappers followed.
The new Charger filled a vacuum left by big sport sedans like the 1996 Chevrolet Impala, which could accommodate 22-inch wheels and offered ample room for accessories, said Myles Kovacs, president and co-founder of Dub.
"By hitting that market, it gives the Charger instant credibility with the street," he said.
Hip-hop heavyweight Twista and rising Houston rapper Mike Jones have shown off their new Chargers on the MTV series "Cribs."
Jones will also grace the cover of Dub in August with his decked-out black Charger to promote his debut album, "Who is Mike Jones?"
In addition, two other hip-hop artists are in talks to use footage of a Charger in their music videos. And the car has popped up in a number of other rap videos without formal permission from the automaker.
The new rear-drive sedan is a four-door update of the classic fastback that was born in the early 1960s and was later known for as the Luke boys' creek-jumping General Lee on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard."
The 2006 model, which rides on the same underbody as the 300 and Magnum, went on sale this spring. Through June, sales were 6,195, according to Autodata Corp. But Chrysler says it's still ramping up inventories.
The automaker is wise to accept offers from hip-hop artists to feature the Charger in promotions, even if the hardscrabble image of many rappers is out of step with Chrysler's typically conservative marketing approach, said Michael Tchong, an analyst at Ubercool LLC in San Francisco.
"My sense is that any type of exposure that is almost an implicit endorsement by an artist is going to help propel a brand."
He said Busta Rhymes' hit single "Pass the Courvoisier" almost single-handedly led to a 20 percent boost in sales of one of the brand's cognac lines two years ago.
Chrysler has already benefited from the interest of A-list rapper Snoop Dogg, who last year phoned Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche to ask how to get his own 300 sedan.
But there may be a greater opportunity to reach out to younger buyers through the Dodge brand, whose average buyer is just younger than those of the Chrysler brand. The average Dodge buyer is 45 years old, just slightly under the median age of 46 for all U.S. car buyers, according to J.D. Power and Associates.
Though the Charger is being heavily promoted to the NASCAR crowd, the interest from the hip-hop world could also give it crossover appeal among different demographic and racial groups.
But it's unlikely to score with hip-hop's trendsetters the same way the Chrysler 300C did last year, Kovacs said.
"I don't think it as obvious as the 300C. It's going to a different market. It's less luxury and more muscle."