Chrysler 300S 426 HEMI V8 Concept

Once a staple motto of the American muscle car industry, the "there is no replacement for displacement" school of thought has become somewhat obsolete in today's high-tech world.

Of course this does not mean in any way that we don't appreciate some raw American V8 power, and there's a lot that going on with the conceptual Chrysler 300S 426 that is on display at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show.

The concept is a joint project between Chrysler and its Mopar brand, which basically dropped a 426 cubic-inch [equal to 7.0-liters] Hemi V8 crate engine under the hood of a Chrysler 300S.

The company didn't release any performance figures, but our guess is that it's either the all-aluminum 426 Generation III Hemi V8 that is rated at 540 horsepower and 530 lb-ft of torque, or the more recent 426 Gen III High Output HEMI V8 with a monstrous 590-horsepower on tap. Either way, that's a whole lot of ponies…

Talking about the concept at the show, Chrysler brand CEO Saad Chehab said that the automaker's engineers tuned the V8's exhaust system to deliver "a more refined, but very throaty kind of sound". You can hear it for yourself about 1 minute and 39 seconds into the video that we've added below.

In addition to all the goods included on the standard 300 S Edition such as the dark exterior trim, the 300S 426 also features a unique interior with "waterfall type stitching", a re-tuned sports suspension and a see-through plastic panel on the hood similar to the one found in the Corvette ZR1.

It all sounds good, but isn't this just another one of those concept cars with no future? Not exactly as Chehab said that Chrysler will gauge the reaction of the LA Auto Show crowd and if there's enough interest, it will be produced.

"Right now we're trying to see what the reaction is going be at the show and hopefully people will like it and appreciate what it delivers and we have great hopes that it will be available soon via Mopar," said Chehab.