Most of us can’t even fathom the kind of responsibility and pressure that comes with running a car company. CEO’s like Chrysler-Fiat’s Sergio Marchionne are on call all day, everyday, and they spend most of their waking hours work, work, working away. There is precious little downtime as the leader of a multinational automaker, so what little free time people like Marchionne get, they have to make it count.
But it turns out the Italian auto chief knows a thing or two about enjoying his downtime. SRT President Ralph Gilles tweeted the above picture to his followers with the caption “Ever wonder what Sergio Marchionne drives on weekends?” Turns out the Italian boss has a soft spot for American muscle. We knew we liked this guy.
While details are sparse on Marchionne’s ride, it is obvious that what we have here is a 2011+ Dodge Challenger SRT8. That means this weekend ride packs 470 horsepower and 470 ft-lbs of torque, which allows Marchionne to get where he needs to be in very short order. For a man in charge of some of the most famous performance brands in the world, among them Ferrari, we’re actually a bit shocked Marchionne would stoop to a “lowly” Dodge.
It is even more telling because Marchionne isn’t exactly a noted car guy. He doesn’t have a huge car collection (or at least hasn’t publicized the existence of one), but rather seems more interested in collecting classical works of art and music. Yet in a way, the SRT8 Challenger fits that definition perfectly; we would argue it is a gorgeous piece of automotive art, and the song its 6.4 liter HEMI sings is unmistakable for anything else.
If you had access to any car in the Chrysler-Fiat lineup, what would you choose as your “weekend” ride?
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