"LJ909" (lj909)
05/17/2015 at 13:26 • Filed to: None
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"LJ909" (lj909)
05/17/2015 at 13:26 • Filed to: None | 2
| 30 |
I dont know if anyone has noticed, but there is another luxury American automaker with a problem, and its Chrysler. A 3 car lineup and its sad, consisting of just the 200, 300, and Town &Country. While everyone has been focused on Lincoln’s lackluster lineup, Chrysler’s gets rarely talked about.
The 200, while competitive, constantly lags behind the competition, the T&C is long in the tooth (but due for replacement by yet another damn crossover. Just what we need). The 300, while in my opinion is one of the best cars on the market, is basically holding the whole brand and thats not good. On top of all that, reports from last year about the brand going mainstream instead of luxury are a bad decision, yet the 300 refresh seems to suggest otherwise.
Nothing has been heard about the Chrysler 100 (with some I believe saying that it was canceled). The 5 year plan Jalopnik reported on last year really showed nothing down the line for Chrysler overall.
It just seems to me that Fiat is focusing its efforts in Dodge, Alfa, Jeep (and to a lesser extent Ram and Maserati). Do you guys think that Fiat has no idea what to do with the brand? Should they go mainstream to compete with Ford, Toyota etc or go Luxury like they have always been?
Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 13:36 |
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I’d say they should kind of be where they are. I consider them as pseudo-luxury on par with Buick, and thats not a bad place to be, assuming you have a good lineup to sell. Add another car or two and Chrysler will be fine.
For Sweden
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 13:38 |
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Probably because the Town & Country and the 300 are awesome
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LJ909
> Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
05/17/2015 at 13:38 |
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Good point. I would say they are in a better position than Lincoln and Buick imo. But yea they need two cars a small car and a sedan larger than the current 300
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 14:08 |
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They should have kept the PT Cruiser and just made it a more luxurious and more wagony version of the Dodge Dart.
Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 14:23 |
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This country needs Minivans. With the T&C going away, we are down to I believe the Sedona and Sienna. I don’t even know if they still make the Quest.
Klaus Schmoll
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 14:25 |
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Is the 300 still sitting on old E-class underpinnings?
GhostZ
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
05/17/2015 at 14:50 |
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I think the name was too tainted. Isn’t the 200 based on the dart platform?
Dean Beyer
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 14:59 |
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As soon as they made Ram into its own brand I knew Chrysler and Dodge were not long for this world.
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LJ909
> Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/17/2015 at 15:09 |
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The still make the Quest. Its always been small time though. The new Sedona honestly makes me look twice at it, and I’ve never cared for minivans. Have you seen it?
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LJ909
> Klaus Schmoll
05/17/2015 at 15:10 |
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That’s always been a big misconception about the 300. The only thing it shared with the old E was a few rear suspension components. Other than that its Chrysler.
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Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 15:11 |
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I have seen 2 in person. It really does look like a luxury minivan. Kia won the goofy box car war (Soul) and now seeks to be the last standing minivan!
MultiplaOrgasms
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 15:13 |
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And Chryslers lineup is far from the most lackluster within FCA:
Thats literally the entire lineup.
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LJ909
> Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/17/2015 at 15:13 |
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Thats true. It is a nice van. But nothing beats Stow & Go and how comfortable a T&C is.
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LJ909
> MultiplaOrgasms
05/17/2015 at 15:15 |
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Oh yea in Europe, its sad. But I was talking here in America. Fiat is second on the list with those 500 variants. The tried and true business model of making an entire brand off one model doesn’t always work well. Just look at Mini.
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MultiplaOrgasms
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 15:37 |
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Making an entire brand of one model is somewhat common with manufacturers of small cars it seems. Mini apparently does fairly well with the core model and the Countryman (do they still make those stupid coupe things anyway?). Smart literally only had the ForTwo/City Coupe for its entire existence save for the years 2003-2006, and Smart is probably stronger than ever. Fiat on the other hand has a limited lineup based on the 500 brand in the US, sure, but offers quite a lot of different cars anywhere else in the world.
AM
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 15:49 |
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They’re replacing the Grand Caravan with a crossover, not the T&C. Chrysler is supposed to be coming out with a new plug-in hybrid minivan that gets an equivalent of 70mpg
Rainbow
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 15:58 |
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They should bring back the Prowler, but make it more like the X-Bow/Slingshot/etc instead of a weird retro something. Just super lightweight and a small, efficient engine, but with a full roof (probably a soft top with an option to get a removable hard top instead, for more lightness) and other DD requirements. Then make it really affordable. Enthusiasts would love it for its performance, old people would love it for being a cheap sporty convertible, and normal people would love it because it’s a Chrysler.
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LJ909
> MultiplaOrgasms
05/17/2015 at 16:09 |
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Those different variants though have hurt the Mini brand more than they have helped them. The more the variant the more it diverges from the core meaning and history of the brand. I think those stupid Mini coupes went away last year. And I dont know if you have heard but Smart has been struggling since forever.
Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
> Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/17/2015 at 16:10 |
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Don’t forget the Oddessey
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MultiplaOrgasms
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 16:16 |
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Given that I have already seen about a million (minor exaggeration for reasons of punctuation) third gen Smarts in my hometown alone (which doesn’t have major issues with traffic or parking spaces as it is quite small) I think they have landed a major home run with the new one. Has to be the manual.
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LJ909
> MultiplaOrgasms
05/17/2015 at 16:33 |
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I have yet to see any. And I live within 30 miles of two Smart centers.
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MultiplaOrgasms
> LJ909
05/17/2015 at 16:46 |
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You live in america. Where fuel is cheap and small cars are deemed unsafe.
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LJ909
> MultiplaOrgasms
05/17/2015 at 16:48 |
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Yea mostly because we have 5-6 line high ways here and several European countries can fit inside of America. City cars dont really work or make sense here. Its why Scion is taking away the iQ.
Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
05/17/2015 at 21:02 |
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NO
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Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> Bylan - Hoarder of LS400's
05/17/2015 at 21:34 |
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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Do What Now?
> Dean Beyer
05/24/2015 at 06:13 |
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Right. No one is buying Challengers and Chargers, they didn’t just double production on all the hellcat models due to overwhelming demand. They didn’t just kill the “SRT” standalone brand and roll everything back into Dodge, either.
ptak appreciates old racecars
> LJ909
05/24/2015 at 13:07 |
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As someone who stays up to date on Chrysler, I believe they’re debuting the new T&C this year or at Detroit, which is based on the 200 and said to achieve 75 mpg
Fiat just showed their “Aegea” sedan in Turkey a few days ago, and we can clearly see the Chrysler design influence, it’s definitely going to become the 100 in the States IMHO.
Also they’re debuting two new crossovers in the next few years, so there’s that. Just my two cents
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ptak appreciates old racecars
> LJ909
05/24/2015 at 13:08 |
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Imagine a new Imperial or New Yorker. mmm
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ptak appreciates old racecars
> Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
05/24/2015 at 13:09 |
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The T&C is going away!? Source?
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ptak appreciates old racecars
> ptak appreciates old racecars
02/21/2017 at 02:05 |
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holy late star batman