Passing Of An Icon? Chrysler's Days Are Probably Numbered

Since customers keep clamoring for Dodge Caravans they night as well make the Pacifica a Caravan leaving only the 300 sedan in a shrinking market. Look for a strategy that has Alfa replacing the 300 in that slot. Will that work? Probably not!

If FCA was smart, they'd been making Chrysler versions of the Durango, Cherokee a while ago.

Chrysler is capable of being a successful brand. This blatant misuse of resources will definitely get it shut down.

Agree"if they were smart". Of late the evidence, outside of Jeep, Ram, and a couple of Dodge models, indicates they may not be.

FCA should change the name of the company to Ubriaco.

When was the last time the Chrysler brand was "iconic"? 50 years ago?

Since then it has been on a long, steady decline into into a name that = low quality, outdated styling and technologically deficient.

@carloslassiter: What? You don't think two bailouts makes Chrysler an icon? ;-)

@Carlos, I agree.

First saddled with its own ineptitude.
Then dragged down by the French trash they bought.
Then propped up by Mitsubishi's class trailing designs.
Raped by Mercedes Benz for money.
Raped by Fiat for money and given garbage products.

Chrysler is absolutely a nothing of a brand or a company.

Sergio is getting ready for a sale. The Chinese will buy the American arm of FCA. Killing Chrysler is a necessary move. Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler dealers make sense. Chrysler is pointless.

I think he wants to kill Fiat globally as well. As of tomorrow he is going to announce that Fiat will be pulling out of the US market. Mini will be a little bit more relived.

With Dodge having always been a mainstream brand, Geely could sell it's FWD/AWD products as Dodges. They would probably be superior to the terrible Dart and 200 engineered off of Fiats outdated platforms. If Geely wanted to do Chryslers, those could be easily derived from Volvos.

Chrysler should have stayed focus, the 300 as a luxury sedan. It doesn’t need a HEMI or V8 to pretend in the sport sedan class. That’s what the Dodge Charger is for. There’s definitely a market for a comfortable $30-40k luxury sedan.

As i’ve been saying for the past year, Maserati/Alfa gets spun off and ends up under the control of Ferrari. They need to get their North American headquarters out of Detroit and back to the metro ny area.

My take on Chrysler is similar to Cadillac is similar to Lincoln ...
They all lost focus on their heritage as they tried to modernize ...

Where is the 2018 Imperial & Elderado & Fleetwood & Coupe DeVille & Sedan DeVille & Talisman Trim Levels & Continental with suicide doors?

1 answer for all the above mess. They all used German naming alphabet soup AND tried to copy the Germans UNsucessfully.

Americans want American cars with American heritage. IF they want German cars, they can buy German cars. You notice that Mustang, Camaro, Challenger stayed true to their heritage with V8 + RWD

Detroit, are you listening ????

@ricks0me Bingo. If Cadillac needed to "go performance" the should have done American performance with a little rumble and swagger.

The CTSV has it, but the base CTS should have it.

That said, a new "1976" styled Seville and a "1961" styled Continental with suicide doors would sell. Go full luxury. Base car is a PHEV and upper is fully an EV.

As for the bullsh!+ of looking forward like Tesla. Why would they want to emulate the look of a bloated Fusion with horrific quality control and ghastly eliability?

Sure, all American companies could keep looking backward and produce the same old stuff they always did, or they could be like Tesla and look forward.

or they could be like Tesla and look forward .... with their perfect auto pilot system.

Nice try Carlos. Are you on the Tesla payroll like SanJoseDriver?

@ricks0me SanJoseDriver passed the intelligence test to be a Tesla employee. Carlos is a wannabe who want to appear to be with the crowd he perceives is "winning". He tried being a part of TheSteve's cabal but he never got traction with them. I guess SanJoseDriver is the new tag-you're-it playmate for Carlos. Thankfully I'll never have to suffer that ignominy.

FOR DEcades - Lots of car companies have did STUPID things to debase their established and valued assets. At the time that they went to Letter names - it was estimated that the name "Legend" was worth over a billion dollars in buyer recall - as an example.

The problem for Chrysler - is that it was left with NO product - something that FCA has not been good on when it comes to cars. There was a time when the Chrysler name was every bit equal to Buick - and the Imperial was a Cadillac competitor. Yes - most of the manufacturers had too many brands - and FCA certainly could not emphasize an American product - that did not sell in other places. However - no real effort was made to keep anything but Jeep and the Trucks going - and so the loss of great value of the Names that will now fade completely into history along with Pontiac - Oldsmobile - and LOTS of others.

or they could be like Tesla and look forward .... with their perfect auto pilot system.

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My God what a bunch of ludites you all are. Let me guess - you still have a flip phone and send paper checks to pay your bills?

There was a time when the Chrysler name was every bit equal to Buick - and the Imperial was a Cadillac competitor.
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Benchmarking against Buick? Is this is a joke?

And when was an Imperial a competitor to Cadillac? 1952?

Actually up until about 1970...

The name is not rubbish. Just the products are. However as has already been mentioned Chrysler has so rarely been run properly in its history that it is quite amazing it is even still here. Simply the Korean's or the Chinese could get a hold of the name plate, use there own rebadged platforms and probably sell them in America. Of course the value is Jeep and Ram I guess. It would be very stupid to let those names die.

Well the investor meeting was held on June 1 and there was no news about brand strategy. Stay tuned...

Sergio is going to sell the American arm of FCA with Dodge and Chrysler intact and have the new owner do the dirty work.