[MCaesar]

What does the Chrysler brand represent today and what kind of models should it have in its range?

That's a good question, and one that only the group's CEO Sergio Marchionne can (but not necessarily "should") answer.

Right now, Chrysler has a three-model lineup with the 200 mid-size sedan, the 300 large sedan and the Town & Country minivan. And oh; it just killed the only high-po model in its range in North America, the 300 SRT, with the sedan's facelift that was presented in LA last week.

For the record, I think it's a mistake to leave Chrysler without a performance sub-brand - be that SRT or with another moniker, at a time when even mainstream carmakers are trying to established similar sport branches – i.e. Nissan with its Nismo cars. Somehow, Marchionne and the Fiat group in general, don’t believe in competing sports nameplates – of course, the VW Group begs to differ…

If it weren't for Marchionne's grand product plan (oh…wait) that includes the addition of a new compact sedan named 100 and two CUVs together with a replacement for the Town & Country over the next three years, one could say that Chrysler (the brand, not the group) kind of resembles an American cousin of Lancia with a reduced range that places more and more emphasis on chic styling over substance…

Time will well tell if Chrysler and Dodge become the modern-day Lancia and Alfa's of the North American continent


http://www.carscoops.com/2014/11/new-chrysler-300s-coupe-design-study.html

 

[Ddaddy]

Stay tuned.

Fiat plans to blow up the Jeep line world-wide and is including the "Track Hawk" versions that will be high performance, just not named "SRT". Fiat expects to 10x sell more Jeeps in the global market than have ever been sold before.

I Suspect there will be a Chrysler 300 high performance version, just not called "SRT".

SRT is now under Dodge so the name stays there, but that doesn't mean that the other brands won't have their own performance packages.

It's too early to say what Fiat will do, but so far we still have the Hellcat and the Scat Pack cars after the merger, so it can't be all that that bad.

 

[ChargerS.X.T]

Chrysler-- which was bought outright by Italy’s Fiat at the beginning of the year-- is getting rid of its more than 50-year-old “pentastar” logo. It’s being replaced by the stylized letters “F-C-A,” which stands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU)

So if you want to play the speculation game-- if the logo of the Chrysler division goes away, maybe Chrysler goes away.”

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/hot-stock-minute/end-of-the-road-for-chrysler-145504162.html

 

[PitchBlack]

I can see FCA aligning their brands in the same way GM has moved to align theirs. Dodge would be the performance division, Chrysler would be the people-mover division, Ram would have trucks, and Jeep is, well, Jeep. It males perfect sense to me, especially from a dealer standing.

A dealer could pick and choose between the 4 franchises to suit his market area. A rural dealer may not want Dodge for example, and a dealer in the heart of a metro area may not want Ram. That way, a dealer is not forced to take a product line he may not want, and can concentrate all his resources on the brands he does want.

I agree that there will likely be a performance-oriented 300, but maybe with a less hard-core personality. Think Bentley instead of Lamborghini. It would be fast and handle well, but with more emphasis on a better (or adjustable) ride, quieter interior, more subdued body work, etc.

As long as Chrysler builds relevant, quality products, I don't see them going by the wayside.

 

[Cuda340]

Stay tuned. It's too early to say what Fiat will do, but so far we still have the Hellcat and the Scat Pack cars after the merger, so it can't be all that that bad.

I read that the SRT engineers really had to fight hard to make the Hellcat happen. Buy them when you can guys!

We will still have performance cars in the future but, because of CAFE standards, they will be 4 and 6 cylinder turbo-charged versions.

 

[ChargerPursuit]

I agree with PitchBlack and Cuda340;

As long as they can build quality cars they will be around. But if they don't build some quality small and midsize cars soon, they will be in trouble. The LX's and Rams keep them in business right now.

Buy the V8 muscle stuff while you can because the 54.5 mpg CAFE for 2025 is slowly going to take away the traditional way of having fun; V8's with some cubic inches.

 

[MCaesar]

Stay tuned.

Fiat plans to blow up the Jeep line world-wide and is including the "Track Hawk" versions that will be high performance, just not named "SRT". Fiat expects to 10x sell more Jeeps in the global market than have ever been sold before.

I Suspect there will be a Chrysler 300 high performance version, just not called "SRT".

SRT is now under Dodge so the name stays there, but that doesn't mean that the other brands won't have their own performance packages.

It's too early to say what Fiat will do, but so far we still have the Hellcat and the Scat Pack cars after the merger, so it can't be all that that bad.

THey are talking about Chrysler the division - not Dodge/Jeep/SRT/Ram etc

 

[Ddaddy]

Chrysler-- which was bought outright by Italy’s Fiat at the beginning of the year-- is getting rid of its more than 50-year-old “pentastar” logo. It’s being replaced by the stylized letters “F-C-A,” which stands for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU)

So if you want to play the speculation game-- if the logo of the Chrysler division goes away, maybe Chrysler goes away.”

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/hot-stock-minute/end-of-the-road-for-chrysler-145504162.html

Maybe, but if you intend to get rid of Chrysler brand why would you name the new Company "Fiat Chrysler Automobiles"? There was no requirement for them to do so, but they recognized the value of having the name prominent in the new company.

The Chrysler brand has a huge following World-wide and it is the namesake of the company. Given everything else Fiat is doing with all of the Chrysler brands I seriously doubt the Chrysler brand is going away.

They have rebranded the Dodge Journey as a Fiat Freemont for ex-US markets but they haven't done it with any Jeep or Chrysler model...yet.

 

[Part Deux]

As long as they can build quality cars they will be around. But if they don't build some quality small and midsize cars soon, they will be in trouble. The LX's and Rams keep them in business right now.

Buy the V8 muscle stuff while you can because the 54.5 mpg CAFE for 2025 is slowly going to take away the traditional way of having fun; V8's with some cubic inches.

Fiat's quality is freaking awful and getting worse. I was dumbfounded at how bad the powertrain numbers were. I don't recall the exact numbers, but transmissions alone are almost 10 times worse then best in class. Roughly 3 times worse then most mfg. On a linear scale, it sticks out like a sore thumb. I only saw composite numbers, so can't identify how each model is doing, but also know the 8-spd is giving them some fits.

The industry has zero idea how they are going to hit the cafe requirements. Put 54.5 mpg in perspective. My wife drives a plug in hybrid. Her combined fuel economy average total is only 65 mpg, and she is able to drive around town 90% of the time on only electric. My DD is a small car with a manual transmission. My best tank of gas was 44 mpg and I drove it extremely conservatively, not quite hyper miler, but close. Typically 34-36 mpg. GM and Ford have created two joint ventures on new transmissions. Toyota is doubling down on hybrid technology. Chrysler may not have the money to develop the new technology required to even think about achieving cafe requirements.

 

[RScottyL]

Fiat's quality is freaking awful and getting worse.

Actually all of them are not oing well as far as dependability is concerned.

Here is the 2014 VDS report:

http://autos.jdpower.com/ratings/2014-Vehicle-Dependability-Study-Press-Release.htm

 

[ChargerPursuit]

And then they almost seem caught off guard when they fail. Duh.

 

[HemiLonestar]

Currently the only 2 bad things I have heard from real people are problems with the fancy computer interface in a '14 Charger and the transmission in a new Dart. Both were very bad. But that's it thus far.