Whoever said the golden days of the muscle car were dead? Motor Trend quotes SRT boss Ralph Gilles as stating at the New York Auto Show that his company will shortly have "an answer for the Z/28." In case anyone here has left planet earth recently, Chevy unveiled the 500-horsepower Camaro Z/28 at the Big Apple event last week and with Ford's Shelby GT500 packing quite the power punch as well, Gilles is fully aware that the Challenger SRT8 isn't good enough anymore.

The answer Ralph gave is that a new high-performance Challenger is in the works and its final output will at least match, if not beat, that of the Camaro Z/28, which just happens to be powered by the Corvette Z06's 7.0-liter LS7 V8. Weight will also be lowered and mechanical upgrades such as stickier tires and lighter wheels, improved brakes and increased down-force will be included along with some suspension work. There's even a very far, far out possibility SRT may toss in the Viper's 8.4-liter V10 in place of the 392's 6.4-liter Hemi V8, but as wonderful as it sounds, that probably won't happen in the end.

Gilles also gave an update regarding the Challenger's eventual replacement. As of now, the Barracuda won't come till after 2016 because the new Alfa Romeo-developed platform it will ride on is running behind schedule because of parent company Fiat's financial woes in Europe. Fortunately, Gilles believes the Challenger has plenty of life left in it so we're quite anxious to see just what improvements await.