Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Not to mention old, but the Cherokee is the biggest turd on the lot. I’ve had more problems with that POS than I’ve ever had with anything. Kill it now! Along with the Rene-junk fiat-ized garbage!
Jeeprt,
Nice Rant
Thoughtful post, but let me offer a slightly different perspective while still agreeing with much you have written. To begin, I feel the only road forward for most manufacturers is a mix of powertrains in their portfolio including gas, hybrid and electric. The Stealth could be all you describe and more with this approach and the Jeep Cherokee could be it’s demure spin off. As much as I believe in mixed portfolios, the only future I see for Chrysler is being the North American Stellantis brand going fully electric. Where I most disagree with you is on the viabilty of a full size 300 sedan. If Chrysler is to survive it must fit between Alfa Romeo and Maserati as a near luxury all electric brand that differs significantly from the performance Dodge and Trail Rated Jeep brands.
I agree on some of your points, but at least with Daimler, Chrysler had vehicles! It was FCA's Sergio who was the one who said Chrysler was to be become aka the new Plymouth, when he gave out his 5 year plan! he said Chrysler is to become a mainstream brand. and it was he who cancelled the new 300 plans in 2017 go check (Allpar.com) for Story, there were even leaked pics of it at the Auburn Hills- HQ- on the Styling Dome wall charts, he Disinvested In the Chrysler Brand after first saving them with upgrades to sad interiors etc. but after cash started flowing his real hearts-FIAT and Alfa/Maserati took the investment! how has that turned out??? I can count on one hand in a week how many of those cars I see. look at the sales charts. they are not bringing the bacon over here! Jeep got it's investment money and Ram, but you better believe a ton of their profits went to FIAT and Alfa/Maserati as they made hardly any profit at all! here in the States! how come a pittance of research dollars went to Chrysler??? Fiat needs to be kept in Europe an South America. Jeep fans despise the Jeep Renegade! nothing but a Fiat! The 200 was a good car gave up on one reason for sales not being what they should of been is bland styling forced upun the styling department, the Bold design was vetoed! just like the grille on the 2011 300 that Ralph Gilles said was toned down by Upper management -(decision AKA-Sergio!) Why did the 2015 big bold grille come back? it was because after customer clinics full of complaints about 2011-2014 grille! these are facts all reported here, and allpar.com etc. And yes the 3 headed dog from hell Cerebrus bought Chrysler to just Liquidate it! It was again Chryslers Bob Eaton that started this! in his sell out! Chrysler had a rainy day fund of15 billion in the banks! Daimler then ate that up! and later spit Chrysler out for nothing but pennies on the dollar! Now back to FCA nothing was coming for the Chrysler brand! the 300 upgrade cancelled in late 2017, they then cancelled all of Chryslers upcoming Vehicles that were on the 5 year plan chart (research that at Allpar.com) if you care to. he Sergio then dies, Chrysler still languishes, under the new leader. The minivans get a new grille, and lights, they call it the Pinnacle trim. the other Pacifica with old styling continues with it. nothing else for Chrysler. enter Stellantist then Chrysler gets a CEO, that had the balls to say no to the Airflow! I disagree with you on the 300, the car did not falter due to sedans going down! it was left to die! no upgrades since 2015! and they kept killing options colors and interior choice! that's Killing a car, not the car! look at the Charger selling 80k plus! why? upgrades/ colors / adds all over TV and the web. Look at what happened when the brought back a little excitement with the 2023 300c 6.4 hemi. sold out in hours, although there's a few at dealers that buyers faltered on. also the 300 almost continues to outsell all of Alfa! and fiat combined! one car! it outsells Maserati period! I agree with your "Chrysler need return back to is rightful place as low volume Luxury brand" but you seem to forget when you say they don't need a Wagoneer size vehicle who was the starting Luxury brand aka-blue collar luxury positioned over Jeep at one point! with the 300C, Pacifica cuv, Crossfire, Town and Country, Aspen, 200 sedan and convertible, count em that's 7! vehicles! how does that go down to 2? Neglect on Sergio's part! he spent billions on Alfa, and fiat/Maserati, again what has been the return in America? Just think where Chrysler brand could be today with investment during this only Alfa etc. love! and Jeep over kill! Period. and back to the 200 again it was killed not because of being a sedan, it was killed for more investment dollars for Alfa/Maserati and the wasteful FIAT brand! He Sergio trashed the car to make and excuse to kill it! hell-lol! he approved it! Ram made it's own cash and so did Jeep, Chrysler could of! but again Sergio left it to Die! look at the time he gave Alfa! hell the Maserati Quattroporte is a rolling 300 underneath! unibody, with a little different V6 pentastar based engine. Maserati does'nt want you to know that! it's just way more luxed up! but both the 300 and Maserati Quattroporte are based on Daimler Benz- Mercedes-Benz E Class(w211) Look no argument with you ! seems we both wish for A strong Chrysler! good day!
I definitely agree with the though of Chrysler taking on Tesla as the EV arm of Stellantis and may have mentioned it a time or two before on this site and the other sites I comment on. As I've mentioned before, with the four brands, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge & Ram, Stellantis needs to have more definition and purpose between all four brands. At one point in time, the Chrysler 300M was one of my favorite cars. I agree that a sleek full electric version of the 300M Special would be an amazing Tesla Plaid/Lucid Air Sapphire competitor. The problem is, as I've mentioned, Chrysler's biggest issue currently is that the other brands in Stellantis' North American portfolio are way more luxurious than anything in the Chrysler lineup and it's three offerings are in dying segments. Even if Chrysler redid the 300M and made it a Tesla competitor, the BEV market is so fragile right now that a hard shift back to ICE and Hybrids could spell disaster for a new full electric entry into the market. Another big issue for Chrysler is at what price point do you sell a Chrysler at? Ideally, mostly everything from Dodge needs to be about $10,000 to nearly $20,000 less expensive than what it is right now. Dodge needs to shift back into being an everyday affordable brand including its low-to-mid range muscle cars, while bringing out an expanded portfolio on the STLA Medium platform of affordable cars, crossovers and a compact pickup truck that also offer muscle in the affordable segment while also offering its STLA Large muscle cars, SUVs and pickup truck in a more affordable price range. Jeep would also need to step out of the Luxury market with the Grand Cherokee, Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer and rethink it's lineup to give the Chrysler Brand the space to do what it needs to do to survive. Jeep honestly hurts both Chrysler and Dodge by being stretched into so many different markets and honestly, not really having a defined role in it's family. Let's look at it like this.
