If you’ve dreamed about owning an American muscle car, well, this next generation of muscle cars may be your greatest shot. The muscle car industry is experiencing a revival thanks to the retro-inspired Ford Mustang. In fact, this Mustang has inspired GM and Chrysler. Thanks to Ford, we will be able to get our hands on the new Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger in the upcoming years as well as redesigned Mustang. Along with the striking appearance of these American marques will come a wave of thunderous engines. From Chevy’s popular LS3/LS7 and Ford’s heralded 4.6 and 5.4 liter engines to Dodge’s 5.7 and 6.1 liter Hemis, V-8’s will rattle the next door neighbor’s windows in the morning….but for how long?

According to some, unfortunately not very long. With the imposing new CAFE regulations drawing near, this very well may be the last time for a while we truly see modern American muscle. With a call for higher fuel economy (35 MPG standard by 2020), today’s V-8’s just won’t do unless outfitted with hybrid technology. These cars are already heavy enough as it is and developing new materials will undoubtedly raise prices. Hmm, a quiet V-8 in an American icon? Oh boy. They could argue that they can make the sound artificially, but it won’t be the same.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for improving American’s dependence on foreign oil. Once CAFE comes, I’m not gonna chain myself up to the bed of dualie pick-up truck and have someone drive me to Washington. I’ll just accept that we all have to make sacrifices for the better of others not named ourselves. It will just be sad to see a piece of American culture be stripped from us because of foreign greed and American apathy.

Alright, it’s January 1st of 2008. Time to clear the table and start over again, and I’m sure some manufacturers are not protesting. 2007 was a horrendous year for the now-defunct DaimlerChrysler. Daimler sold off Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management, a company who specializes in turning around struggling companies. Now called Chrylser LLC, I believe Jim Press is going to have more headaches this year than he had in his time at Toyota. 2008 looks pretty dark for Chrysler with so many unanswered questions.

Jeep is killing off the slow selling Commander and Compass. Grand Cherokee? It’s a solid SUV but is aging quickly. Patriot? Great idea, but poor materials and a little too small. Jeep Liberty? Yeah, that’s gotta be the key…no. The new Liberty is basically the old Liberty with a few extra goodies and new body. It’s still the old Liberty underneath, a negative in today’s thriving crossover market. At this point the only Jeep model I see selling well is the Wrangler. 1 out of 4? That’s not gonna work.

Now we move on to Dodge. The Caliber is pretty much a dud in a money-making small car market. Dodge Caliber SRT-4? Good intentions, mediocre execution (not to mention it look like a cargo van had a run-in with a fighter jet). The Avenger is all-around bad. Awkward styling along with uninspiring performance, this was grounded before it took flight. There are rumors that the Avenger is to be discontinued, only made more evident by Dodge replacing the Avenger with the Charger in NASCAR’s top series. The Charger, meanwhile, is still a home-run for Dodge. How much longer the victory champagne is to be around has yet to be seen. The Durango and Dakota need some guidance. The only hopes for Dodge are the new Caravan and soon-to-be new Ram.

Personally, I don’t know what the hell Chrysler is doing. They need to be an upmarket brand to separate them from Dodge. The 300 should be their lowest model in my opinion. Sebring? What the f….PT Cruiser? Ugh. Chrysler needs to shape up. They need to be the Cadillac of Chrysler LLC.

Chrysler LLC has a lot of work and decisions to make. Jim Press is the best thing that could’ve happened. They’ll take a step forward in 2008, it’s just that the step will resemble that of a forward stumble since it’s gonna be hard to top 2007’s atrocious performance.