Make affordability a priority.

[tom]

As a lifelong Mopar customer I find myself looking elsewhere for my next car. I don't think I am alone in feeling left out with the current offerings. I am a senior, and need a sensible cross over, not full of every tech option out there. Make it front wheel drive only for affordability, In other words an updated Journey. I know that very vehicle is currently being sold in Mexico. Adapt it for the n/a market build and sell it here under the Chrysler brand. I know there is talk of a cuv coming from Windsor but I fear it will miss with affordability.
I think now the perfect time for a modern day K-car type of roomy small and midsized economical and reliable sedan. If you drive by any dealer you will see the attempt to go upmarket is not working. Time to build what people want and can afford. Hopefully the new executives can get things ironed out quickly, I would hate to see the company fold.

 

[arod412]

i think car makers are focus on their own profits and not focus on what people want.
People want cheaper cars and simple tech. we don't need extra.

 

[TripleT]

As a lifelong Mopar customer I find myself looking elsewhere for my next car. I don't think I am alone in feeling left out with the current offerings. I am a senior, and need a sensible cross over, not full of every tech option out there. Make it front wheel drive only for affordability, In other words an updated Journey. I know that very vehicle is currently being sold in Mexico. Adapt it for the n/a market build and sell it here under the Chrysler brand. I know there is talk of a cuv coming from Windsor but I fear it will miss with affordability.
I think now the perfect time for a modern day K-car type of roomy small and midsized economical and reliable sedan. If you drive by any dealer you will see the attempt to go upmarket is not working. Time to build what people want and can afford. Hopefully the new executives can get things ironed out quickly, I would hate to see the company fold.

Counter point

The vehicles named are some of the worst cars made by Chrysler. Regulatory and costing structures don't support the desire. Affordability in the past came on the cost of near death, producing inferior product sold at zero or negative margins to produce cashflow.

On the contrary to one assertion people do not want de-contented vehicles quite the opposite, the larger buying public has quite high expectation especially around infotainment and comfort, the take rate is quite low except for fleets. When you can buy a Asian car that came her in a box and assembled in the south, with all the bells and whistles it tough to compete in the bargain arena.

It interesting to see how rose colored the glasses are as people look back to time when in reality the company was struggling just to pay it vendors and hold off bankruptcy. There is not margin in de-contented vehicles and sedan market has no room for anyone as the Camry is the new Model T with more color options.

Slate is a interesting experiment... that does deserve some looks. Perhaps the return of Plymouth with SMART Architecture would provide a place for this sort of experiment.

 

[james.mooney.]

As of Stellantis' Investor Day in June 2024, the Smart platform was developed for India, Europe, and South America, so it does not sound like it is coming here:



Of course, there have been many changes at Stellantis and in the industry at large in the last year, so maybe plans have changed.

From what I've read, it sounds like Smart is an economy variation of the PSA CMP platform developed by Tata.

Speaking of which... we know that the STLA Large and STLA Frame platforms are based on legacy FCA platforms. Any idea what STLA Medium and STLA Small are based on?

 

[TripleT]

Dongfeng ..... Pretty sure we will get a version of the SMART as Renegade... You can see it in the Panda profile

Med is a PSA platform

 

[patfromigh]

The Smart platform improves on the eCMP by the structural changes that make it easier to build. The structure is more integrated with less steps needed to complete the finished structure. Those are my words as I can't find the original article. I'm sorry if my reply sounds confusing. Instead of a greater number of smaller substructures and processes, there are a few larger substructures that need to be combined into complete unit.

 

[patfromigh]

The vehicles named are some of the worst cars made by Chrysler.

I think the Journey being referred to is the Mexican Journey and that is not made by CDJR. It is made by a Chinese company and the Ram1200 is also Chinese made.

A few decades ago there was an article in one of the car magazines about an independent designer who did contract work for the Big Three automakers. The reason I still vividly remember that article was the photo of the man sitting in his office. Above the desk was a prominent drawing of a minivan concept that had a remarkable resemblance to the original Plymouth and Dodge minivans. He drew the concept up under a contract for Ford in the 1970's. Hank the Deuce rejected the concept and fired the project lead and then Lee Iacocca a year later. The project leader, Hal Sperlich, preceded Iacocca in being terminated from Ford the company, personally, by Ford the man. Sperlich brought the plans for the minivan to Chrysler.

Hal Sperlich passed away in the beginning of this year. Please read his story.
Read about him here: Hal Sperlich, Architect of Chrysler Minivan and K-Car, Passes at 95

What does all this ancient history have to do with this thread and the Slate EV truck? Because I highly suspect history repeated itself recently. Instead of leaving Ford with the plans for a minivan, someone left Auburn Hills with the plans for an affordable EV truck. The engineers for the Slate were former FCA and Ram Truck engineers. Ram, Dodge and Jeep have chosen the path of complexity and greater cost. Anybody who might have stood in the way probably would have been shown the door like what happened to Hal Sperlich.