Chrysler C-Segment Hatch Back On, Could Be Called 100
2/6/12, 03:45 PM
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Chrysler C-Segment Hatch Back On, Could Be Called 100
http://blog.caranddriver.com/marchio...be-called-100/
Update 2/6: We’ve now captured spy photos of the new hatchback undergoing testing; note the familiar Chrysler grille behind the front camo. The car is wearing stretched and widened Alfa Giulietta bodywork—similar to that seen on early prototypes for the Dodge Dart—but it will wear unique sheetmetal when it is finally produced. The article below was originally published on January 27.
The Chrysler product-planning department may want to avoid running for public office, lest they be labeled flip-floppers: After a confirmation followed by a cancellation, a Honda Civic–sized Chrysler is back in the company’s plans. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, told the Detroit Free Press this week that such a car is happening, that it’ll be a hatchback, and that it could be called the Chrysler 100. We confirmed that the Free Press accurately quoted Marchionne, and we’ve since heard from our own sources that the car has the green light.
Here’s why this is such an odd turn of events. In 2009, soon after Chrysler and Fiat first hooked up, the company presented a five-year product plan; it included a Chrysler-badged C-segment sedan. Then, in April 2011, this changed. Olivier François—charged at the time with running the Chrysler and Lancia brands but currently the head of Fiat—told us that “either Dodge or Chrysler” would get a C-segment vehicle, but not both. With Dodge prototypes eventually becoming the new Dart, we concluded that the Chrysler model was dead. It has now risen, zombie-like, from the development grave.
Update 2/6: We’ve now captured spy photos of the new hatchback undergoing testing; note the familiar Chrysler grille behind the front camo. The car is wearing stretched and widened Alfa Giulietta bodywork—similar to that seen on early prototypes for the Dodge Dart—but it will wear unique sheetmetal when it is finally produced. The article below was originally published on January 27.
The Chrysler product-planning department may want to avoid running for public office, lest they be labeled flip-floppers: After a confirmation followed by a cancellation, a Honda Civic–sized Chrysler is back in the company’s plans. Sergio Marchionne, the CEO of Fiat and Chrysler, told the Detroit Free Press this week that such a car is happening, that it’ll be a hatchback, and that it could be called the Chrysler 100. We confirmed that the Free Press accurately quoted Marchionne, and we’ve since heard from our own sources that the car has the green light.
Here’s why this is such an odd turn of events. In 2009, soon after Chrysler and Fiat first hooked up, the company presented a five-year product plan; it included a Chrysler-badged C-segment sedan. Then, in April 2011, this changed. Olivier François—charged at the time with running the Chrysler and Lancia brands but currently the head of Fiat—told us that “either Dodge or Chrysler” would get a C-segment vehicle, but not both. With Dodge prototypes eventually becoming the new Dart, we concluded that the Chrysler model was dead. It has now risen, zombie-like, from the development grave.
Beyond knowing that it’ll have five doors and a two-box shape, we can’t tell you very much about the Chrysler 100. Logically, it would ride on the same platform as the new Dodge Dart, which is about the right size. The Dart’s platform is called CUSW within Chrysler/Fiat, which stands for Compact U.S. Wide; it’s a widened evolution of the underpinnings used for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Marchionne went on to say that the Chrysler 100 would be rebadged as a Lancia and exported to Europe. Wait, what?
Lancia already has a hatchback that’s bigger than the Alfa Giulietta; it’s called the Delta. The Chrysler folks even surreptitiously plopped a Chrysler-badged Delta onto its stand at the 2010 Detroit auto show. Why design an all-new C-segment hatchback, build it in the U.S., and then ship it off to Lancia in Europe, where such a car already exists? Surely it would be cheaper for Chrysler to take the existing Delta, federalize it for the U.S., and build and sell it locally. The Delta isn’t even due for a redesign, as it debuted in 2008 and Lancia product cycles are typically six to ten years long.
Regardless of the sanity of the plan—and that plan’s final execution—independent of Mr. M, we’re hearing that Chrysler’s C-segment hatch should arrive in the U.S. in two to three years. We assume that the picture will have cleared up by then, but you seemingly never know with Fiat and Chrysler.
Lancia already has a hatchback that’s bigger than the Alfa Giulietta; it’s called the Delta. The Chrysler folks even surreptitiously plopped a Chrysler-badged Delta onto its stand at the 2010 Detroit auto show. Why design an all-new C-segment hatchback, build it in the U.S., and then ship it off to Lancia in Europe, where such a car already exists? Surely it would be cheaper for Chrysler to take the existing Delta, federalize it for the U.S., and build and sell it locally. The Delta isn’t even due for a redesign, as it debuted in 2008 and Lancia product cycles are typically six to ten years long.
Regardless of the sanity of the plan—and that plan’s final execution—independent of Mr. M, we’re hearing that Chrysler’s C-segment hatch should arrive in the U.S. in two to three years. We assume that the picture will have cleared up by then, but you seemingly never know with Fiat and Chrysler.
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