Chrysler -- alive or dead?

Outside the van, they really made a shitty product. GM is going through the same experience right now. Outside their truck, they had a shitty product.

Ford had better products (small SUV and the Focus) and is in better shape.

The Volt might save GM.

 

K-Cars RULE!

 

Their product-making decisions are unbelievably stupid at best.
Small car - Dodge Caliber. Looks like the box the Neon came in. Ugly and slow.
Midsize- Sebring, Avenger. The Sebring is an ugly mismatch of themes raided from the 300C, minus the Hemi and rear-wheel drive. It looks like a car styled by a funeral home. The Avenger, same relationship to the Charger. Both had to be restyled extensively after their launches because they're so damned ugly and pathetic.
Fullsize- Charger, 300C- great motors (HEMI!), great ride, great styling, but long in the tooth. Chrysler's last truly successful car. Should've been restyled or at least refreshed a couple of years ago.
Coupe - Challenger looks really cool and goes fast, but in an era dominated by oil prices, it has sold poorly.
Small SUV - Why does Chrysler need the Patriot, Liberty and Nitro? Same crappy little SUV that gets awful mileage that makes a Suburban snicker.
Minivan - The box that the old Caravan came in. Ugly!
Ram truck - Restyled, but too little, too late.
Midsized truck - Dakota is fuel-thirsty, almost as much as the Ram and has questionable reliability.

Jeep- ruined by the faux Jeep Compass (no way that survives the Rubicon Trail, what a crummy pile of smoking turd that is actually a rebadged Caliber with a Jeep grill), two compact SUVs that are needless duplication (Patriot, Liberty) and the absolutely pointless Jeep Commander, a big, heavy white elephant of an SUV that is just a more squared-off Grand Cherokee.

Stick a fork in 'em, they're done. There's a reason why their sales tanked 50 percent. None of their cars are anything people desire. Except maybe the 300 and the Charger. When Bob Lutz left, the styling folks and engineering staff departed en masse and you get what they have now. The marriage of equals (DaimlerChrysler!), divorce of parent company and subsidary and present owner Cerebus have ruined what was one of America's great companies. They'll be joining Pan Am, Admiral and countless others as great American companies that crashed and burned.

And there will be a buyer for Jeep. That name still has cachet to some.

 

You are right about most of your assertions although the Chrysler and Dodge minivans do quite well in sales. So despite their ugliness, people buy them. I never would though.

 

More like put company in suspend mode , kill the union

 

The Patriot and Liberty are not the same vehicle. The Patriot is the more "manly" version of the Compass, and both are based on the Dodge Caliber. The Nitro and Liberty are platform-cousins; neither has any connection to the Caliber/Patriot/Compass vehicles other than by manufacturer.

 

I'm a Chrysler
On the side of the road I reside
I don't run
Whether the company is dead or alive.
Dead or Ali-live
Dead or Alive

 

And saying the Jeep brand was "ruined" by anything is a gross overstatement.

Dodge trucks also sell well to tradesmen, ranchers and farmers. They need the Hemi and diesel models for towing.

 

I'm not saying the brand is ruined completely, but building the Compass and its pointless twin doesn't help.

And the truck design will go elsewhere. Nissan's next full-size will be a rebadged Dodge Ram. Maybe they'll buy the factory and the design.

I think it's easy to see why I'd get confused on Chrysler-Jeep's model lineup. And I'm probably not the only one.

 

Funny you should mention that ... :-X

 

Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge [/1980s]

 

Dead to me since I got rid of that POS Sebring.