Chrysler Speeding Up Redesigns of Seven Models

This could be good news if you took a buyout. If Chrysler hires contracting firms, they could be stuffed full of former Chrysler designers. If they decide to direct hire, there are plenty of former GM designers anxious for work, I'm sure. Polish up your resumes, boys, Detroit is hiring again!

If only temporarily.

Urgently needed. But dangerous to do hurriedly.

Lets hope they get it right. 300 was around forever. They need to figure out what the compass/patriot is doing. In shopping for my first car i wanted a SUV<25k and i remember looking at those two and i spent half a day trying to understand what was different about them. Overall, exteriors are ok, just could use some freshening, but the interiors/power-trains to all of their cars need some major work (never understood the headrests with holes in them, those are uncomfortable as F***). Less plastic please (at least make it seem like its not).

What's sad is that Daimler screwed Chrysler in so many ways. They started out OK placing provacative if not polarizing designs out there. They lost it when they simply did not refresh the lines soon enough and came out with losers like the Sebring/Avenger and the crappy/cheap interiors that plagued those and the Caliber and Nitro and so on. They need to get some clean-sheet styling dialed back in with sharp interiors. Lastly, the driving experience has to become memorable...much like the 300's and Chargers were. I for one and in spite of Fiat's involvment, hope Chrysler succeeds. It would be ashame for the whole Daimler debacle to have claimed one of our own.

Firstwagon is right on, as for the 300 being around forever, it's only been out since 2005 and is due to be replaced late in 2010 as a 2011. I rented an '08 last year and it was a great car, very fun and comfortable to drive. I have hope from an article in Automobile magazine a couple of months ago by Jean Jennings stating someone on their staff saw the production 300/Charger and they are the most beautiful designs to come out of a U.S. car company.

I don't care about the rest but that diplorable, putrid Sebring has to go. That is probably THE worst designed, worst executed American car of the last 20 years. Yes, that includes the Aztek (which was -NOT- as bad as it was made out to be). I actually hate that car and what it represents for the "new" Chrysler so much I toyed with the idea of scooping up the domain "stopbuyingsebrings.com". I just can't fathom any possible reason ANYONE in their right mind would take that car, in ANY of its iterations, over a comparable Pontiac G6, Malibu or Fusion. Chrysler's credit options and incentives can't possibly be so much more attractive than the others so as to push people into those sh*tboxes can they?

Honestly, I don't have a problem with the rest of the Chrysler line-up so long as the interiors receive appropriate attention, although the Avenger is nearly as bad.

Please Chrysler, do a ground up redesign on that car or eliminate it from the automotive landscape completely.

I think all of the above comments are pretty close to right on. I drove a Caliber a few months ago from the Dealer. I like the room, small wagon idea......MusicGate stereo that would make your ears bleed. It handled fine and was smooth riding but that god awefull CVT and gutless 2.0 world engine just killed it for me. I had to nail it to get on the freeway and the noise it made was terrible. MY girlfriend turned to me and said "is it supposed to make that sound?" Then I looked at the MPG ratings....terrible! How can a 4 banger Avenger get better milage? Maybe the R/T with the 2.4 would be better but the MPG is even worse. I got back in my old Stratus and went ahhhhh why would I take on a payment for something that is not better than the car I have now? I really wanted to like the Caliber....and I did, just not enough to buy one.

I have a 2008 Patriot 4WD with 2.4 CVT. The thing is actually a terrific car. It will go anywhere, a little low, hey, it's got skid plates ... but the cvt, once you get used to it you never think about it. The 2.4 engine must be built really tight because as it has accumulated mileage on (16,000) it has gotten much quicker and much smoother, not kidding it will really scoot, the car has been perfect, it's been down plenty of rough, rough roads, I have to use 4wd every day, so it's not a pampered car. Drove it to Mexico and was able to coax 31.6 MPG out of it on a long flat highway, the seats are comfortable, I'm 6'4" and fit in nice, stereo/sirius combo is great. ac handles Arizona heat with no sweat ... this is a much maligned product that has a lot to offer and a good price. It seems like in the auto press it's fashionable to beat up on Chrysler - too bad, this is an honest, un-pretentious product that a lot of folks would enjoy. Even dreaded Consumers Research, who hated the Patriot reported above average reliability.

so many cliches come to mind for this move. namely, putting lipstick on a pig, polishing a turd...

but i think the most apropos is, polishing brass on the titanic.

The Sebring is not that bad, it may not be a great car by any means but saying an Aztek is better is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I was next to an Aztek at a light and not 1 body panel lined up, it sounded like a garbage truck and is the most hideous crossover ever made. I think after Jeremy Clarkson went off on the Sebring all the fan boys jumped on the bash Chrysler band wagon. I can't wait to see what Fiat does with this company, I think there are going to be some great products coming from Chrysler.

That Sebring represents Chrysler so well.

As I said before I haven't driven the Sebring (only the Avenger) but I would like to ask all the critics what is so horrible about the Sebring?

Real reasons why it is worthy of comment like "diplorable, putrid " and other colourful responses.

The Avenger was solid, quiet, no creaks or rattles, roomy, had decent performance from the 2.4 and 4 sp and had interesting styling.

As jeepsrt said, it's not a great car but IMHO few cars on the road are.

Why all the venom?

My family owns a RAM 1500 and I've been in the current generation Avenger as a rental, and it was horrible. The check engine light went on after less than 30 miles - and boy were we glad it did - the seats were impossible to sit in comfortably thanks to those cursed headrests. The glovebox and center console were not up to what I was expecting in a 2008/9 car either.

I've been in a 2009 Town & Country, deary me.... What ever can I say that's positive... welll... The paint was shiny? But truthfully, Everything I touched was broken, misaligned, malfunctioning, hard & coarse, and had a high possibility of being ugly. The ingenious seats - yeah, those were broken. Not a single thing I saw could ever make me guess it was a top selling minivan.

I agree with almost all of what was said - except the positive about the Patriot that rickity said. The interiors in almost all Chrysler products suck. Just plainly, if it was a good design then I'd gladly see it on EVERY SINGLE CAR THEY PRODUCT. But when it looks like dung to begin with... really, why bother?

Designing a radio head unit: simple task, eh? Kia, Hyundai, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, Subaru, etc. can all create unique (mostly) head units for ALL of their cars. But the mighty 'big three' can only make one new one every 4 years. The old Neon, Viper and RAM all shared the same radio. It was a bad design for a $14,500 car. It's way too cruddy for a $80,000 one. This isn't the only thing either, the shifter, steering wheel, gauge cluster. There is no creativity in their interiors at all.

My father was looking at getting a Challenger, but then he looked inside. Nope, no way.

There's just no reason on earth to buy a Sebring when the Sonata, Fusion, Altima, and Malibu are available.

Stephen987 summed up my previous post perfectly.

As always, there are those who must be contrarian to the popular opinion, however anyone who dares call himself a "car-guy" or "car-girl" and doesn't see everything that is wrong with the design and execution of the Sebring is either blind or ignorant. The Aztek may have been ugly, but at least it wrapped ugly around a CONCEPT of utility. Any Chrysler apologist who criticizes a GM product for fit and finish, panel fitment and noise suffers from a serious case of pot/kettle/black.

However, the real blame goes to whoever the idiot was that designed the thing (I'd really like to know this person's name). I mean seriously, it has to be the worst confluence of angles, curves and lack of proper automotive design I've experienced in quite some time. From the rear, the car sits way too high, the headlights are out of proportion with the front end of the car, the beltline and door handles sit too high for the rest of the design theme, and on and on and on. The entire design basis of long, low and wide has been thrown asunder with this car. Seriously? Do I need to explain this? Come on now!

It is especially amusing because I own ANOTHER of Chrysler's most villified cars, the Crossfire SRT (from which the Sebring stole the hood-strakes) and I actually tend to quite enjoy it from most angles. Except perhaps, the over-arched rear end just as with the Sebring. The Sebring then took this design, placed it in a microwave and just melted it around a 4 door sedan and an even MORE out of proportion convertible. At least I get some thrills from that Supercharged V6 in the CF.

The REAL shame of all this nonsense is that the Sebring Convertible and Coupe that came BEFORE this generation were quite beautiful cars and did a good job of continuing the design legacy of the Lebaron, especially in the convertible. By contrast, the NEW convertible, which I rented and drove across the country is a complete mess outside. It also has one of the worst executions of a rear decklid I've ever seen. The thing must weigh 120lb and if the struts were ever to fail (they will, they're undersized for the application and all gas struts give out in colder weather), there would be some serious potential for injury there. I've had plenty of convertibles that didn't have to resort to such measures as a result of their garish exterior designs.

Oh well, I guess I'm just not into this whole new world of "Malaise" cars everyone else seems to be perfectly happy settling for.

I should add to the above that the primary reason for my vehement disdain for this car has less to do with the car being a bad one off. Hey, that's part and parcel for Chrysler throughout its checkered history.

The PROBLEM lies in the fact that this car is sold in such massive quantities, that it becomes the FACE of Chrysler. When there are this many examples of such a piss-poor... well let's not even call it that...we'll just say even a MEDIOCRE product out in the world, it ruins the entire image of the brand as a whole, and stunts its growth. I don't brow-beat the interior issues because there's already enough of that to go around, but when you wrap a terrible exterior, around a cheap interior... what does that say for the brand as a whole and its future?