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Automotive News & Views Can Chrysler Turn It Around in Bankruptcy?
464 messages, Last post on Oct 02, 2009 at 2:05 PM
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Replying to: rockylee (Nov 12, 2006 1:04 am) The upper dash pad is very soft touch with a matte finish and surrounding materials are attractive and mostly pleasant to the touch as well. However, LX cars (300, Magnum, Charger, Challenger) aside, Chrysler's interior finishes, materials, and styling inside and out took a dramatic plunge over the far more attractive and aerodynamic "cab-forward" cars that Honda seems to have modelled the new Civics after. Chrysler's recent descent into stylistic abortion is most likely what has led to their current woes. As we have seen, great styling and innovation if not actual quality and reliability made Chrysler the most profitable mass market automaker in the world in the 1990's. Then Robert Eaton and Jurgen Schrempp masterminded the takeover of Chrysler by Daimler-Benz and it basically went down hill from there. The hardest hit products in their lineup seem to be the compacts and midsizers. Chrysler went from the sleek and fun to drive Neon to the heavy, bulky, and unpleasant looking Caliber. Even the new Caliber SRT-4 is slower than the previous Neon SRT-4 despite the additional, what, 55 horsepower and also lacks a limited slip differential. Worse looking are the new Sebring and Avenger. Compared to the previous two generations of cars Stratus/Cirrus/Breeze and Stratus/Cirrus, the new midsize models look more Korean like what Hyundais used to (especially the Sebring) than what Hyundais do now. I feel it's a sad day to realize that my favourite player on the home team is now turning out less attractive AND generally inferior cars to a Korean outfit that even just ten years ago was the laughing stock of the industry. I hate to say it, but Chrysler could now really learn a thing or two from Hyundai/Kia about vastly and swiftly improved perceived and actual quality. I myself no longer own a Chrysler product (previously a 1993 Chrysler LeBaron Cabriolet and later on a 1996 Plymouth Breeze) due to mainly the styling. Had the Neon been available to me in a new and improved form back in January 2008, I would have purchased one of those instead of my 2008 Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit). I had never experienced something horrible enough in one of my Chrysler Corportation products to warrant not ever wanting one again. Coupled with their unique style at the time and generally fun to drive nature, I was won over. For instance, the Chrysler 300M (which was to be the new Eagle Vision don't you know) could go head to head with any comparable car around the globe with no apologies. [Visit link title for a road test of the 300M where it placed second only to an Acura TL and link title for more information if one is skeptical.] So, overall, what Chrysler needs to do first and foremost is dramatically improve the styling of its products to be similar in greatness to the of the cab-forward era and improve quality, reliability, and NVH. My Breeze was quite the noise maker! Chrysler also needs to dump unnecessary models such as the Dodge Nitro, Jeep Compass (what an abomination to the brand it is!) and produce a new compact sedan at least for the U.S. market because hatchbacks aren't big sellers here and a new compact Chrysler sedan with good styling would go a long way to helping them out. Chrysler; what you need most are style AND substance. -S. Myers
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That the Pacifica was and still is a very classy car (if equipped correctly) and that the interior is actually pretty decent, especially in light of the Sebring, Avenger, Caliber, Compass, etc. The Pacifica was an excellent concept, design, and execution, only there should have been a 7 passenger model at the beginning (and there still isn't) and the car was priced to fail. (I remember pricing out 2004-2005 Pacificas and seeing some of them reach up into the upper $30K range, even low $40s). The Pacifica also would have benefited by having the 4.0L at the beginning of production instead of halfway through... I saw Pacificas advertised in the local paper starting at around $16K... A pretty decent car for the price... The Pacifica was an almost-premium car priced like a premium car under a brand nobody regarded as premium. A classic example of how price can sometimes kill a well-conceived product before it even hits the marketplace... |
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Replying to: myershift (Oct 16, 2008 12:18 pm) 
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"I hate sounding stupid,but..." You ask a logical question. Here's my understanding of "cab forward": It's a term, although not necessarily a concept applied by Chrysler Corp. to the design of its all-new '93 Chrysler Concord, Eagle Vision, and Dodge Intrepid front wheel drive large cars. In contrast to a relatively long hood and short rear deck design, or a normal length hood and rear deck, the cab forward design attempted to maximize passenger space, especially, and also trunk space, by featuring a relatively short hood and a steeply sloping windshield. I believe another feature of this design was to make track wider, relative to the width of the car. Chrysler's cab forward '93 cars were notably larger and, arguably sleeker than previous ground breaking FWD designs, such as the first and second generation ('87-'91 and '92-'95) Ford Taurus/Mercury Sable I think the use of the cab forward term had as much to do with marketing as with configuration, because one could argue that the Honda Accords and Civics of the mid-late '80s and early '90s featured similar design language, but Honda didn't employ the cab forward term to their styling. For all the many quality issues that plagued the domestic models of the '80s and '90s, many featured innovative styling (eg. GM's '85 large bodies, Ford's '83 T-bird and '87 Taurus, and Chrysler's Cab Forward and '95 "Cloud Cars" [Chrysler Cirrus and Dodge Stratus]).
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Replying to: hpmctorque (Oct 18, 2008 6:18 am) boomchek, "Mystery car pix...." #18463, 27 Sep 2008 12:54 pm |
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I would add that I believe that "cab forward" was an attempt by Chrysler to transform itself from a manufacturer of stodgy K-cars and K-derivatives to a styling leader. After all, it had tried this three times before; in the '30s with the Airflow, in '55 with its "Forward Look" cars, and in '57, with its dramatically new fin-themed cars. Remember, the '93 cab forward, and '95 cloud cars and Neon were conceived when Lee Iacocca and Bob Lutz managed the company, and these guys were not averse to risk. Ahh, if only the quality and reliability of Chrysler's cab forward cars was as good as the styling...
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Chrysler is laying off 25% of its salaried workforce by the end of the year? That's not far off. Maybe pretty soon the whole company will just disappear - POOF! On the bright side, I guess they have all the bidders they want in the sale of the Viper program.
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My Jeep Liberty just had a major engine problem. This does not appear to be isolated to only Jeeps engines. My Jeep had 82K miles. Dealership stated valve seat came loose putting a hole in the piston. This has been reported in ALLDATA reports recently yet the word is not getting out to the general public. A reliable friend of mine said carbon built up can't cause the resulting damage and there is a major manufacture flaw in the material they used. The resulting hole in the piston is a defect in the metal. There appears to be a trend here and the manufacturer is not saying anthing including a recall notice. Has anybody else had any Jeep engiines vakve replaced or major engine repairs. We only discovered this by demanding to see and take photos of the resulting problems and it was evident it was a manufacturer defect.
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Replying to: nippononly (Oct 24, 2008 5:01 pm) Finding partners or trying to figure out how to run the company more cost effectively would be logical steps if this were 2006, but it is too late now. My hunch is that we'll know a lot more by the North American International Auto Show. |
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