Hollywood_North GT

Just a matter of time now.

This close to the financial abyss; woeful product lineup...AND they don't know WTF they're doing, so much so that the PR department has to step in post facto and clean up the CEO's mess with damage control statements. Lethal combination.

From an engineer at Chrysler who attended the meeting where Nardelli stuck his foot in his mouth >>

I'm not even sure Ghosn would want this company in its current situation.

Snap up those Challengers. They'll be worth a lot more after Chrysler is liquidated.

Moosetang

Be nice if Ford bought the rights to the Jeep name when the company is parted out, and just produce one CJ/Wrangler style model for the faithful.

tom281

I dig the article...... thanks for posting. Gotta say though, we love our new Chrysler Aspen LTD.

bob

Wonder if there will be comment at Autoextremist next wensday? Can't wait to see

exgto

How do you figure a "woeful" product line up? They have competitive light trucks, strong selling Charger/300, a lauded and redesigned minivan. Moreover, they have the halo Viper, and the Challenger, not to mention the Jeep brand, which has been strong selling. Woeful based on what - your biased opinion?

They actually have a decent selling model line up. The problem for them is that their profitable smal truck and SUV sales are down, and their smaller sedans are not very strong sellers.

All of the statements are very convoluted, and to come to any foregone conclusion from that article is pure speculation.

Chrysler's survival, as well as Ford and GM's is vital to our economy. I am pulling for all of them. Odd that SOME seem to take joy in their struggles.

Hollywood_North GT

300 and Charger are NOT selling that well anymore. Check the sales figures. Does anyone actually buy their minivans anymore? The Viper is yesterday's news, and only a niche car to begin with. It doesn't even come close to the Vette in refinement and overall usability. The Challenger is another niche vehicle which will hardly save Chrysler. I don't know how good Jeep sales have been in '07 (I see relatively few on the road), but '06 was nothing to brag about. And you said yourself, their profitable truck and SUV sales are down (showing an over dependence on this segment), and their smaller sedans aren't selling well (this is largely because the designs are awkward and the execution is cheap).

As to my statements being convoluted and "taking joy" in Chrysler's problems, in the case of the former, the record speaks for itself; in the case of the latter, any company that continues to build such a lackluster product line (with a few notable exceptions) should perhaps pack it up. God knows Mercedes knew when to jettison the flotsam.

exgto

Hollywood, your assessment is fine if it is strictly opinion based. On that I would not argue; however, you try and make reference as to your statement being fact based, and on that I have to disagree.

1)The Dodge/Chrysler minivans, although they are no longer a top 10 seller are still the best selling minivans on the market. "Woeful"?

2) The 300 and Charger continue to be strong sellers despite 07 sales figures being down 13% and 4% respectively. Not bad considering both are several years into their model run, and the state of new car sales overall. "Woeful"?

3) The Dodge Ram was the 4th best selling vehicle last year. "Woeful"?

4) The "awkward design" smaller cars like the Caliber may not be red hot sellers, but sales have been solid here, and have in fact been stronger in Europe than projected. "Woeful"?

5) Nobody said the Viper was a corporate savior, and it is not intended to compete with the Corvette in the areas of "creature comfort and refinement". That is not the intent of that car, and Dodge makes no bones about that. It is an image building raw performance niche car, and has certainly helped Chrysler in that regard, as will the Challenger."Woeful"

The problems Chryler faces are by and large as a result of their operating costs, and the same disparity Ford and GM have endured, i.e. too much emphasis on the more profitable truck and SUV market. It is not indicative of a "woeful" product line up, because the numbers suggest their problems run deeper.

Not to say a legitimate Accord fighter would not help their cause, but let's at least appear to be reasonably objective.

Zastava_101

Chrysler has been dying since early 1970s. K-Cars, minivans, LX-cars managed to save them in the past, but I don't think they can make another winner again.

Hollywood_North GT

Yes, my remarks are my opinion, just as your remarks are yours. But my remarks are informed by what I see & observe; overhear; and read in the financial papers.

Neither myself, nor any of my friends would touch anything made by Chrysler right now, because nothing stands out as particularly innovative or interesting. The three exceptions are some of their pickups, the new Challenger...and the Charger SRT-8 (which I happen to dig).

Everything else looks either dated or lackluster in the current marketplace, and their red ink is indicative of that. Why do you suppose Daimler dumped them?

Woeful? One word: Sebring.

Nuff said.

Black331

With the hideous crap they are peddling Aspen/Durango/Sebring/avenger/Dakota etc. I'm not surprised...

jay_wx

I've had a number of Chrysler vehicles over the last 15 years and have had very little if any trouble with them. Currently I have a 2005 Dakota Quad Cab and a 2007 Caliber R/T and they have been great, and I use them as daily drivers instead of my two Mustangs. Seriously over the same period of time I've had several Fords and those gave me more trouble than any of the Chryslers, the last being a 99 Ranger 4.0 4x4, had to have head gaskets and drive shaft replaced on that one, and it was starting to have more problems so I finally traded it in on my '03 GT. So far no problems with either the Dodge's or Fords I currently own.

Hollywood_North GT

I don't doubt that their reliability is on par with industry averages, but as far as curb appeal or innovation is concerned, their passenger cars are largely redundant (mostly due to an awkward and incohesive design philosophy) or growing old (as in the case of the 300).

1 COBRA

And their star, the '08 Viper.

2005GTDELUXE

Yes The Honda Odyssey outsold The Grand Caravan by only 3,300 vehicles through November.

Read more here

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll...376/1148&imw=Y

exgto

Same experience here. I am very pleased in particular with our Magnum, although I really can't complain about the Caravan we owned or our Ram 1500 either. They were all very tight and trouble free.

Seems like the people here that are most displeased with Chrysler products are the ones that do not own any. Those opinions aren't very credible if you ask me, but to each their own.

exgto

Daimler dumped them after they plundered Chrysler's cash reserves. Chrysler was a profitable company when Daimer bought them, what do you think made the aquisition so attractive? Which financial reports do you read? Kerkorian saw right through this "merger", and publicly stated that Daimler was going to do this to Chrysler.

So, after spending their cash reserves, creating utter disharmony, and seeing the bottom fall out of the profitable truck/SUV sales, Daimler cut and ran.

By the way, last time I stopped at the dealer, the "woeful" Sebring convertible had a waiting list because they could not build them fast enough. Nice try though, what are we 0 for what now?

More power to you for your opinion, I could give a rat's nose what you drive. At least your broad brush generalizations were rebutted with some fact to the contrary. Your bias against all things Chrysler seems to have obscured the fact that their troubles have more to do with operating costs, (i.e. union), poor management from Daimler, and the misplaced product emphasis that Ford and GM also are suffereing from. The disparity of American car companies isn't unique to any one of them in particular - it's a systemic problem. They all have some lack luster designs, and some that do very well.

Back to the topic. I hope Cerberus gets this right, but I have some deep concerns about their ability to do what is necessary. They do need to examine their styling and build an attractive line of conservatively styled, high quality/content Accord/Camry/Civic fighters. GM seems to have pulled this off with the Malibu.

svopaul

Personally I was sad to see Mercedes sell Chrysler....that was the best thing that EVER happened to that company from a quality perspective. I used to work for Mercedes Benz and now own a Magnum and If I put a benz and magnum up on a rack and put you underneath you would have a hard time telling the difference (...and I've had my magnum nearly completely apart-my choice for custom paint). Mercedes input into the build quality of at least the Magnum is VERY noticeable and they are a pleasure to work on as a result.

These cars have come a LONG way from years past in terms of quality.

Zastava_101

I only had one vehicle from Chrysler and it was 1997 Dodge Intrepid 3.5L. Now my dad owns it and at 103,000 miles - Intrepid is ready for a junkyard. Tried to trade it when I bought F-150, dealer only offered me $300 for it.

StangMahn

I dont think that Chrysler will make it too much longer, I'd like to see it because it is an American car company, and therefore better than most in my biased opinion on that. With that being said, their product line is slowly becoming more and more boring, with the exception of the Viper, which apparently isnt all that great of a car for what it is supposed to be. They've cut out my favorite car, the Crossfire, and completely missed their target buyers with the 300. It was supposed to be a car aimed at people heading into retirement, sort of a competitor to Cadillac, but the car has more use for younger folks, to put huge rims, loud stereos, and lambo doors on them, at least around here. The Dodge trucks are good, but they are terribly inefficient on fuel. Same goes for most Dodge SUV's. I just dont think that they have a whole lot of time left, unless they do some major changes soon.

bob

Meh, Mercedes may have improved the quality, but I dont think the trade off was worth it, Mercedes absolutely raped Mopar. The "merger of equals" turned out to be nothing more than a plain take over and the money Mopar had saved up for a rainy day (like now) was raided by the new owners and converted into a bunch of fat bonuses and also used to jump the Smart car program. Methinks Mercedes got thier just reward when they had to dump Mopar at a loss and ended up having to fun thier pension plan as well.