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Chrysler Straightline Archives

2012 Chicago Auto Show: Ride-Along Exhibits

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To be frank, the Chicago auto show has limited importance as a venue for introducing new cars to the world through its press days. However, for regular folks visiting the show, it's probably the best in North America. For one, almost everything introduced at Los Angeles and Detroit is shown here in Chicago (not the NSX Concept, though). Then there's the sheer enormity of McCormick Place's two exhibit halls. This allows for a huge number of cars on the floor, with manufacturers capable of showcasing different trims of the same car.

There's also enough space inside for indoor ride-along events. Jeep usually puts one outside and Detroit is home to an environmentally friendly car ride-and-drive in the basement, but there are at least four opportunities for folks to experience what certain cars are like when actually moving. Toyota had a large area dubbed Toyota Monopoly Hybrid Ride Experience (I'm not sure why), while Chrysler alone had three different exhibits. The Jeep and Ram ones included a number of off-road impediments, while Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat had a stretch of road used to showcase an initial burst of acceleration, then braking. The latter actually looks as if you're going to be part of a crash test.

It all seems like good fun and adds something to the auto show experience. Journalists may be cold on Chicago, but car fans shouldn't be.   

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Spy Photos: 2014 Chrysler 100

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Recently, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne revealed to USA today that Chrysler was seriously considering a new five-door hatchback for the U.S. market. Here in the states the car would be known as the Chrysler 100 while in Europe it will be sold as a Lancia.

This is an important distinction as Lancia is a luxury brand in Europe. Chrysler could easily have gone low-budget and went Dodge/Fiat, but Marchionne and others clearly see a market for a high-end, A3-like hatch. This car is built on the same platform that underpins the Dart and the Giulietta, but this car has a Chrysler grille, different exhaust and different rear bumper that foreshadows a longer car with more cargo space. This mule also has a higher hood than the five-door Dart mules we've seen.

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Here's Chrysler's Clint Eastwood Narrated "Halftime in America" Super Bowl Ad

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You know who's cooler than Eminem? Clint Eastwood. Hear the gravel-voiced tough guy talk about Chrysler's second-half after the jump.

(Also, kudos to Chrysler for leaving this one a mystery until the Super Bowl.)

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2012 Detroit Auto Show: Chrysler 700C Concept

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There has been an intriguing lack of information accompanying Chrysler concept vehicles since the tie-up with Fiat. And so it is with the Chrysler 700C, the minivan concept that just showed up at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show with no further explanation. There's no record of it on Chrysler's media website.

But a placard in its license plate holder does identify its origin in the Chrysler Design Studio, and sure enough, as soon as we began taking photos of it, a researcher from the design team strode up and began peppering us with questions. We were incredibly wishy-washy, so if the next Chrysler Town and Country (which outsells the Dodge Grand Caravan, by the way, and is likely to come back solo for the next generation) ends up looking like a strange pastiche of design elements, well, maybe we had something infinitesimal to do with it.

For reference, we've included a couple shots of the current T&C.

 

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2012 Detroit Auto Show: Chrysler Chief Confirms New Dakota, Possible Diesel

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In an interview with journalists at the Detroit auto show yesterday, Chrysler chief Sergio Marchionne confirmed plans for a new Dakota pickup. He also noted that there's a "better than 50 percent chance" that it will be a unibody truck.

If you consider that bad news, maybe this will cheer you up: Marchionne also said that diesel power is a likely option. With a diesel engine now confirmed for the Grand Cherokee, Marchionne said it only makes sense for the company to spread out the cost over multiple models. Thankfully, that's expected to include the Wrangler as well.

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The List: 5 Under $50,000 That Go from 0-60 mph in Less Than 5 Seconds

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Sometimes merely getting there is not enough; you want to get there really, really quickly. After all, there's nothing like the thrill you get from a car that leaps off the line. 

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Dodge Charger Gets Beats by Dr. Dre Sound System

 IMG_2113.jpg The Beats by Dr. Dre audio system currently available in the 2012 Chrysler 300C will make its way into the 2012 Dodge Charger. The system will simultaneously debut at the Detroit Auto Show and the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week.

The 10-speaker setup will be standard on the Charger R/T Max model and part of the Blacktop or Rallye Appearance Group options packages on the SXT trim. Or you can get it as part of the (deep breath) Sound Group and Wheels and Tunes package on the Charger R/T. Chrysler says it will hit showrooms and the streets in the first quarter of this year.

We first saw and listened to the Beats by Dre system in a 300 S at last year's New York Auto Show. It pounded out bass better than most OEM audio systems, thanks to a dual-voice-coil 8-inch subwoofer in a sealed enclosure in the trunk (which looks a lot like the Kicker subs in other Pentastar products).

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Chrysler Announces New Luxury Series Trim for 2012 300

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I'm back in MA for the holiday this week and I'm convinced that, knowing I'll be home eventually to tell them, none of my about-to-buy-a-car friends have read a single word on the current automotive landscape. Just yesterday a buddy came to me with this question, "Mike, I'm looking for a new car. It has to have at least four-doors. It has to be rear-wheel drive. It can't be German or Asian and from what I've heard Chrysler's interior's are terrible so it can't be one of those." He should've just said "What's the closest thing to my Caprice I can get that has a warranty and isn't rusting itself to the ground?"

I tried to explain that the current 300 is really, really nice (and has a killer user interface for the infotainment system) and pretty much his only option outside of the used market, a Tahoe or conning a salesmen into giving him a fleet-service Caprice. He wasn't having any of it and talked himself into keeping his car "one more year" to give GM a chance to win him back.

This is an unfortunately common occurrence for Chrysler and one they're not particularly thrilled with. Enter the 2012 Chrysler 300 Luxury Series. Expect to hear about this new 300's ultra-premium Poltrona Frau leather (which they claim was "once limited to some of the most exotic Italian luxury cars"), eight-speed automatic with paddle shifters, hand-sanded Natural Pore Mocha wood, and platinum chrome coated grille surround, mesh grille, mirror caps and door handle accents.

The Luxury edition starts at $40,145 for a rear-drive V6 and runs $45,245 for a 300C in AWD.

High res photos after the jump.

 

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Dodge Caliber Production Finally Ends

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 We all knew this day was coming, but now that it's finally here, we think it probably should've happened eons ago: The Dodge Caliber is officially dead. Production has finally stopped according to the Detroit News. "It's the last of the American bottom-feeder compacts" said analyst Jim Hall in the article.

The Caliber is set to be replaced by the Fiat-based  2013 Dodge Dart which has the potential to claim the volume-seller slot in Dodge's lineup.  In November, Caliber sales were down 62% year-over-year moving only 1,202 vehicles. In 2011, Dodge has sold 33,632 Calibers. It is being outsold by everything in Dodge's lineup except the Viper (161 units) and the Nitro (22,445).

 

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Wards Announces 10 Best Engines for 2012. Direct Injection, Forced Induction win big.

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Wards auto has released its official list of the 10 Best Engines for 2012. A record seven feature direct injection and five engines feature turbo or supercharging. Wards made the decision after driving 36 different vehicles with 34 new or redesigned motors over 2 months. Scores are based on power, technology (think that slightly skews this towards DI/Turbo motors instead off something like, oh, the LS1?), observed fuel economy, noise, vibration and harshness. Vehicles must be priced below $55,000.

Full list after the jump. (Pretend you didn't see the spoiler photo above.)

 

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Laura Soave Out as the Head of Fiat in the U.S.

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Chrysler announced today that it's replacing its head of Fiat in North America, Laura Soave, effective immediately. Timothy Kuniskis will take over amid slow sales of the Fiat 500 hatchback.

Soave was given the reins at Fiat in the spring of 2010 and charged with reintroducing the brand to the U.S. It was a tough assignment given that Fiat would have only one model to sell and it expected to do it through a brand new network of stand-alone dealers. The rollout of those dealers didn't go as quickly as planned, so it's no surprise that sales suffered.

Kuniskis has worked for Chrysler since 1992 mostly in marketing.


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Deal of the Day: 150 Zero-Mile Chrysler Neons!

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 This is one of the coolest lots I've seen up for auction in a long time. Singapore based Arete Trading Pte Ltd. is selling off what looks to be a rather well-preserved -- if a bit dusty -- collection of right-hand drive 1997 Chrysler Neons.

They've all got the 2.0-liter petrol motor, an extra tire, no stereo, are made in USA and are available in "few colors visible in pictures" which we guess means teal and dust.

They're currently asking only $1,350 per car, but with a collection like this, I'd hate to see them broken up. Spending $202,500 on Neons is a wise investment, right?

( Motor Authority)

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Bob Nardelli is Officially Insane

You remember Bob Nardelli right? He's the guy who ran Home Depot so poorly they gave him $200M just to leave. Then we went to Cerberus Capital, a company that mistakenly thought it could buy Chrysler on the cheap and then just, you know, turn things around. No problem right?

Well, after teetering on the verge of bankruptcy, the government determined that Chrysler didn't have a chance under Cerberus and stepped in to broker a deal with Fiat.

Now, in an interview with the Detroit News, Nardelli swears Chrysler would be better off if he were still running the show. "If the government gave us the deal they gave Fiat, we'd be doing just fine — really," Nardelli told The Detroit News.

Yes, really! Sure Bob, and that god awful Prowler you own, or at least pretended to own when you were CEO, is going to go up in value someday too. Really.

For more of his utterly ridiculous musings, see the full story in the Detroit News.

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Chrysler Doesn't Back Off Playboy Club Ads Despite Parent Group Protest

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Earlier in the week the Huffington Post reported that One Million Moms, a "humorless, fun-averse" branch of the American Family Association (itself a conservative, fun-averse group who counts Huckabee, Falwell, Buchanan, Limbaugh and Palin amongst its members and you may remember for boycotting Ford for offering same-sex partner benefits to employees) was boycotting Ben and Jerry's new SnL-episode-themed ice cream, Schweddy Balls.

We laughed, re-watched the skit, laughed some more and then bought some ice cream.

And now the Parents Television Council, a completely different group of fun-averse parents, are all up in arms about Chrysler simply advertising on the new NBC show, The Playboy Club. The PTC says that Chrysler is "complicit in the act of mainstreaming pornography." (I thought that was the Internet, but whatever.)  They're asking members to make visits to dealerships (we take a fictional look at how that conversation goes after the jump) and to call and write letters scolding the brand.

Thankfully, someone at Chrysler is sane enough to simply not care, "We recognize that not all advertising placement is liked by all individuals. We do not take this approach to offend, but we feel that it is important to deliver information about our products to a diverse and broad audience." said Dianna C. Gutierrez, Chrysler spokesperson. Pornographers needs cars, too, right?

Only time will tell if the good people at Hellman's and P.F. Changs (both owned by Unilever) take the same stand.

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Chrysler to Sell Embattled Flagship Dealership in Downtown L.A.

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Motor Village was set to be the ultimate Chrysler Brand dealership. Part of this dominance would be, in part, because the dealership was under direct control of the parent company. Franchiseses, after all, can get sloppy and tend to want to make their own decisions like they own the place or something.

Everything worked out great for Motor Village for a while. They built a nice, clean, stylish dealership and it was staffed pretty well. (We've bought two cars there and had others serviced by them.) The dealership was also going to be a testbed for new ideas and new practices to help make the dealership experience more tolerable. Chrysler was hoping this store would help California sales which are currently at 4.38 percent (3.89 percent in LA) compared with 10.2 percent nationwide.

Unfortunately for them (and any customer who may have benefited from a new approach to the dealership scenario) the California New Car Dealers Association dug up some annoying rule about factory-owned stores being illegal within 10 miles of a non-factory owned store and filed charges with the DMV.

And now Chrysler is being forced to sell the dealership. The New Century dealer group (Century West BMW, New Century BMW, Puente Hills VW and more) is the lucky buyer who gets the fully functioning, 189,000 square-foot dealership.

(Autonews)

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Sergio Marchionne to Step Down As CEO in 2015 or 2016

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During the 2011 Management Briefing Seminars in Traverse City, Michigan Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne (59) glossed over the fact that he could be stepping down in either 2015 or 2016. Speaking about Chrysler's future plans, Marchionne said that it would be "up to the guy after me, I think -- after 2015, hopefully. Maybe a year later. Chrysler will be here after me."

He later clarified those statements saying, "I technically can go beyond 2015. I wouldn't focus on the date. I would focus on the process.

"The Process has been designed and I've always believed that my successor needs to come from the inside..."

Reuters is reporting that Fiat's shared closed 1.73 % down (5.98 euro) due to the announcement.

Marchionne was named CEO of Chrysler in June of 2009 and quickly put into place a five-year turnaround plan. 2015 is one year after The Plan is set to finish.

(Automotive News, Reuters)

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Automakers To Endorse 54.5 MPG Standard by 2025

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Big news is coming from the White House tomorrow, as President Obama is expected to announce that automakers will have to meet a fleetwide corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standard of 54.5 mpg by 2025. Seven major automakers (i.e., the heavy hitters in the U.S.) -- GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Nissan -- are reportedly on-board with the deal, but other import players (whose lineups are low on light trucks) are hold-outs.

Our own green car advisor, John O'Dell, has written an in-depth story over on Auto Observer, and it's worth a read if you actually like to read and want to understand the issues in play here. A couple key points:

--> As O'Dell makes clear, a 54.5 mpg CAFE standard translates to a 40 mpg EPA rating. Back in June, when the Administration suggested a 56.2 mpg CAFE standard (41 mpg EPA), the industry came out against that. California (and the 12 other states in its consortium) looks to be in support of the 54.5 mpg standard, meaning we'd have one national mpg standard.

--> The bigger deal in Obama's plan is that passenger cars will be subject to a 5-percent annual increase in fuel efficiency from 2017-2025. Light trucks, meanwhile, only have to improve 3.5 percent annually through 2021, and only in 2022 will the 5-percent rule be applied to them.

--> Although government policy leaders and automakers worked together on this plan, consumers were not involved in the process, even though they'll have to drive the new generation of fuel-miser cars and pay what's certain to be at least a modest increase in up-front costs. Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl wrote a letter to EPA director Lisa Jackson expressing this concern.

Anwyl writes, "Consumers are voicing real concerns. How will their choices be limited? Will prices rise? By how much?

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Dodge Offering 570 Horsepower Supercharger Kit for 2013 Charger, Challenger SRT8?

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Rumor out of MotorAuthority has it on good work that the newly formed SRT brand -- headed by Ralph Gilles -- will be offering a factory supercharger for LX platform cars that will boost the horsepower to a max of 570. That's 100 more than the 6.4-liter V8 currently makes in the Challenger / Charger / Cherokee SRT8 / 300 SRT8.

The twin-screw supercharger is set to be released in late 2013 MY vehicles and is reportedly NOT supposed to be a direct response to the ZL1 Camaro and Mustang GT500. Right. Of course not. Why would anyone think that?

Read our full test of a 560-horsepower Speedfactory Challenger here.

(MotorAuthority)

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I Was Going to Build Your Car, But Then I Got High

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Had a problem with your Chrysler V6? Well, this may have something to do with it.

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Chrysler Employees Caught Drinking, Smoking At Lunch....Again

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Sigh.

Well, once again, Fox News investigative reporter Rob Wolcheck has busted Chrysler employees drinking beer and smoking pot on their lunch break. This is only 10 months after 13 Chrysler workers were fired from the Jefferson North Plant for the same behavior. Fox news was alerted by two workers narced out on the antics of their co-workers saying "It's dangerous." And we'd have to agree.

But, unlike last time, these Chrysler workers at least tried to be discreet about the whole thing, driving about a mile from the plant before, uh, enjoying their lunch.

When Fox showed the video to Chrysler Senior VP of Manufacturing Scott Garberding he responded, "I just want to say I am both hurt and angered over what your cameras captured. Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families." He finished, "It's very frustrating to us, we take it very seriously. We have a lot of very committed folks at Chrysler. We are very proud of our team. We have some folks who apparently do not want to be a part of that team."

More bad apples, or is there a bigger problem in the orchard?

( My Fox Detroit)

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