If you'll allow me to break out my tinfoil hat for a moment ...
One of the major criticisms of NASCAR is that the cars themselves bear little resemblance to their road-going counterparts. And while the same can be said of V8 Supercars - the Car of the Future regulations are really turning it into a
silhouette series - at least V8 Supercars actually look like the cars on the road. With the series gaining a widespread following overseas, and the inclusion of an American round for the first time, V8 Supercars could serve as the ideal playground for the Chrysler Group's motorsport activities. And with Car of the Future cutting the costs of building a car from around $600,000 to $250,000, it would be significantly cheaper than NASCAR. Part of me doesn't think it was coincidence that Chrysler were in talks to join V8 Supercars at the same time as Dodge was withdrawing from NASCAR.
Hmmm, I was thinking along the same lines as that, Chrysler and Dodge (before the FIAT takeover) were bringing cars down to Oz that were very hit and miss with the market. The only real success was the 300C, but when the new Commodores and Falcons hit, it was left in the dust.
It makes sense if this is foreshadowing to importing more cars down here, since they've been a raft of new manufacturers and models hitting the showrooms, it seems like an oppurtune time.
I can only see them entering V8SC if they were planning a large-scale marketing push for new cars in Australia.
Besides, considering Dodge had a Gen 6 car ready for this year, plus rumours of them trying to strike up a deal with Richard Childress, there's a chance they'll be back there soon anyway.
EDIT: While I'm on this roll, I think Chrysler would be more likely to join if, say, Fox Sports 1 (the former SPEED), would syndicate races to the US.
Considering they did broadcast Surfers Paradise the last 2 years (plus Bathurst in '11) I'd say this may be a possibility in the near future.
Or, this could work the other way round, it seemed like since the COTF was in the planning stage, there were talks of Chrysler coming into the sport. If Chrysler came into the sport with an American car, this would spike interest in the series in the US, therefore making TV deals much more likely and hence giving Chrysler exposure to a more relevant audience.
Who knows, either way it would only be good for the sport.
