[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][size=-1]Rapper 50 Cent says he wants to be the first to get a 2006 Dodge Charger, a four-door update on the muscle car that debuted at the North American International Auto Show last week. The car goes on sale this spring. Chrysler hopes for a marketing push from 50 Cent's interest.[/size][/font]
50 Cent request buys Charger 'street cred'
Chrysler hopes the rapper's early interest generates buzz for the muscle car update.
By Brett Clanton / The Detroit News
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][size=-2]David Coates / The Detroit News[/size][/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][size=-1]Walter Segovia, promoter for auto customizing magazine Dub, works at the Detroit auto show. Rapper 50 Cent, in a telephone message to Dub, said of the Charger, "I need that."[/size][/font]
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50 Cent's phone message inquiring about the Dodge Charger
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][size=-2]David Coates / The Detroit News[/size][/font]
[font=Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif][size=-1]Chrysler let Snoop Dogg use several 300s for a music video from his new album after he expressed interest in the car last summer.[/size][/font]
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Chart-topping rapper 50 Cent made clear last week he's impatient to get a 2006 Dodge Charger, a four-door update of the classic muscle car that debuted at the Detroit auto show last week and goes on sale this spring.
"I need to know what I gotta do to get that Dodge Charger first. I need that," the rapper told Myles Kovacs, publisher of auto customizing magazine Dub, in a telephone message made available to The Detroit News.
While some brands have been reluctant to receive the blessing of profanity-spewing hip-hop artists, DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group wants to broaden the appeal of its older-skewing Dodge and Chrysler brands.
Boldly styled vehicles such as the Chrysler 300 sedan and Dodge Magnum wagon made Chrysler the darling of the hip-hop world last year, providing ideal canvasses for oversize wheels and decked-out interiors that have become calling cards for rappers, pro athletes and -- perhaps most importantly for Chrysler -- the legions of fans who want to emulate them.
Chrysler is wasting no time getting 50 Cent what he needs, as it did last summer when platinum-selling rapper Snoop Dogg asked Chrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche for a Chrysler 300 sedan, a move that paid off in reams of publicity. The story of Snoop's affinity for the 300 was reprinted in dozens of newspapers and magazines, and the rapper featured a handful of Chrysler 300 sedans in a music video.
At this year's Detroit auto show, Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Co.p. and General Motors Corp. all are showcasing vehicles with street-racing accessories, fat wheel rims and special front grilles, underscoring the new attention they're giving to buyers who like to personalize vehicles and tune into TV shows such as MTV's "Pimp My Ride."
Americans spent a record $39 billion on customizing their vehicles in 2003, up almost 8 percent from 2002, according to the Specialty Equipment Market Association.
Rappers such as Snoop Dogg and Twista, both of whom added about $30,000 in extras to new Chrysler 300s last year, have helped fuel the accessories boom.
They also have given Chrysler "street cred" with a new set of buyers such as Chris Teague, a 36-year-old computer systems specialist from Waldorf, Md., who was checking out a tricked-out Dodge Magnum at the Detroit auto show on Monday. "This definitely gives me some ideas," he said.
Chrysler has been savvy about how they have approached the hip-hop community, letting the artists find them rather than chasing after endorsements, said Dub magazine's Kovacs.
"That's worth more money than any advertising you could do in the marketplace," he said.
But they've also launched vehicles whose design inspires car buyers who are tired of seeing Honda Accord look-alikes, he said. "It's all about being aspirational and cool," he said, "and Chrysler has found a way to tap into that."
Rarely in recent months has Chrysler missed an opportunity to mention that new models like the 300 are popular with everyone from senior citizens to Snoop Dogg. In accepting Motor Trend magazine's Car of the Year Award in November, Zetsche even tried to imitate the language-bending rapper in describing the distinctive sedan with the low roofline and huge front grille. "As Snoop would say, 'It's the shizzle,'" Zetsche said.
Snoop Dogg left a phone message for Zetsche last summer, asking, "What I gotta do to get that brand new 300 up outta you?"
Chrysler responded by selling the rapper a 300, which he quickly spruced up with suede seats and scissor doors. The company allowed him to use several of the sedans for a music video from his new album. Rapper Nelly also has included a Dodge Magnum in a video, and NBA star Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets has posed on the cover of Dub with his outfitted Magnum.
Now Chrysler hopes 50 Cent will give the new Charger a push out of the gate. 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, grew up on the streets of Queens, New York, and promotes himself as an inveterate gangster. He has been shot nine times, including once in the face, and raps about hardscrabble street themes. He was once hailed by Detroit native Eminem as his favorite rapper, an endorsement that helped him to become one of the biggest figures in hip-hop music.
The 2006 Dodge Charger is an all-new passenger sedan that has the same rear-wheel-drive underbody as the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum and revives the name of a two-door fastback perhaps best known as the getaway car on TV's "The Dukes of Hazzard." Chrysler will begin building the sedan in Brampton, Ontario, this spring.
Zetsche was already getting mileage out of 50 Cent's request at last Friday night's charity preview event for the 2005 North American International Auto Show. Surrounded on stage by models from Gear magazine, Zetsche bragged that 50 Cent bought a new Chrysler 300 last year and now is ready for the Charger.
"That's two 50 Cent purchases," Zetsche said. "Now, we're up to a buck."
You can reach Brett Clanton at (313) 222-2612 or [email protected].
