Chryslers grandson wants to save the brand

[Renze]

After reading Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares saying he wants to cut unprofitable brands (because FiatChrysler brought a lot of brands into the merger, while PSA shareholders has gotten 60% of Stellantis shares) i now found this:

Auto Drive

autodrive.com.bd

Good initiative, but isnt it already too late ?

 

[Hay Dude]

After reading Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares saying he wants to cut unprofitable brands (because FiatChrysler brought a lot of brands into the merger, while PSA shareholders has gotten 60% of Stellantis shares) i now found this:

Auto Drive

autodrive.com.bd

Good initiative, but isnt it already too late ?

I think so.
American anything is just about completely ruined, or it has left the country for less regulation and lower, non-unionized wages.
We are a service economy now and import nearly everything.
If you want to return to an industrialized economy, you get called all kinds of names and shut down by environmentalists.

 

[Renze]

I think so.
American anything is just about completely ruined, or it has left the country for less regulation and lower, non-unionized wages.

The Italian brands of Stellantis are in the same shape. Only the PSA branch is making money, and Fiat vans (Ram Promaster) sell well here because they are cheap.

Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel are doing good. Fiat has been ailing for more than a decade, its a lot of brands with just one or two models, like Chrysler is too nowadays.

GM sold Opel to PSA after owning it since 1929, because it was a valuable company because they were making money. Fiat has only bought companies that were cheap because it was operating at a loss. But when your own house isnt in order, that just increases the challenge on the management

 

[tradosaurus]

Stellantis has put out so much crap that it will be hard to recover. Unless they adopt Toyota quality it's just a matter of time.

 

[Renze]

PSA shareholders got 60% of the new company, PSA brought in 4 brands, 5 if you count Vauxhall too (though its just a different badge for the right hand steer models) I am not sure if Holden was part of the deal too.

From the FiatChrysler side, there are at least 20 brands, many of them having only a single model... FCA shareholders got 40% shares of the new company because their input in the merger wasnt as valuable despite having 4 times as many brands.

The ones that remain for sure are Ram, Alfa Romeo and Fiat professional (vans) For the rest, i guess anything is possible

 

[dodge man]

Being a Mopar lover I think they shot themselves in the foot by doing away with the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. They had a strong following and a lot of loyal customers. The problem is they were spending a huge amount of money by buying credits from companies like Tesla because they weren’t getting enough fuel mileage.

Those cars needed to be changed, the basic structure of the car hadn’t changed much since 2005. The problem is they killed that line without having a replacement. They keep putting out commercials telling us what a great performer the Hornet is. They are still looking like they will make a new Charger in both gas engine and all electric. We will see.

 

[Oaktree]

Being a Mopar lover I think they shot themselves in the foot by doing away with the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger. They had a strong following and a lot of loyal customers. The problem is they were spending a huge amount of money by buying credits from companies like Tesla because they weren’t getting enough fuel mileage.

Those cars needed to be changed, the basic structure of the car hadn’t changed much since 2005. The problem is they killed that line without having a replacement.

Been a Mopar guy myself for a long time, but I agree there are fewer and fewer reasons to look there. In the U.S. they seem to be putting all their eggs in the Ram and Jeep baskets...and many of the "Jeeps" are just rebadged Fiats. Don't know why they refuse to bring out a mid-size pickup (no the Gladiator doesn't count in my eyes).

Not familiar with the 300, but the musclecar niche is pretty small. They need more mass-appeal vehicles.

Unless they adopt Toyota quality it's just a matter of time.

PPPBTTHHHHHHHHH

 

[Tinhack]

The Chrysler 300 was more of a sport luxury car. The AWD versions are heart pounding, spine to the seat, embarrass BMWs and Lexus snobs in a Cadilac beating body. My sister has a 2013 Chrysler 300C AWD that will shame Corvettes in light-to-light competition. The AWD hooks all four tires at once for a no-squeal jump that will make your neck sore. I keep asking her to sell it to me, but I guess it's still too much fun for her.

 

[ruffdog]

Our 300 AWD was far from being a "sport luxury" car. It drank oil, the aluminum wheels REALLY corroded (worse than other cars), the HVAC system was weird, the center diff clutch pac shuddered, ate tires, pass side present switch acted up, paint and quality was subpar. The PT Cruiser we had worked fine except it too had the wheels that corroded very bad and out of round tires.

Has Stellantis sucked the value out of the brand and will be off loaded when it needs money to save?

 

[Quaffer]

If they remake the Dodge Colt Turbo I would buy one. Fast little car until it broke, usually within weeks.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Saving the "brand" at this point is a dream of a child who once was part of the company at heart.
There are just to many foreign companies that have more content that is made in the USA and have scooped up the supply chain capability to try to start competing now (unless they use foreign parts).
There only hope is if they can get the financing together is to build a cheap car so it is competative price wise. That would be to build an inferior product to gain market share.
It is still supply and demand, at least until we get though the month of November!

 

[dodge man]

The Chrysler 300 was based on the same platform as the Charger and Challenger. We have had good luck with 300 C’s. We’ve owned three of them. The first year we owned was a 2005 and the wheels did corrode. After that no problems with them.

They stopped making the all wheel drive 300 C version with the Hemi, maybe 2014 was the last year. They have also improved them over the years, the biggest being the 8 speed transmission and the 6.4 Hemi. The original transmission, a 5 speed, and the car chassis are a Mercedes design when Chrysler was in bed with them.
Our current 2019 300c and Challenger, which is a 2010 with 24,000 miles.

 

[LouNY]

Well as far as I'm concerned fing Fiat has ruined the RAM pickups for me and the others are not far behind. When all you can get is a black interior which will show all the dust and dog hairs plus suck up the heat in the summer. And it's almost impossible to get one without that god awful huge center counsel and so called bucket seats. It looks to me like the only vendor selling a pickup with a light colored interior and a bench seat in the upper trim levels is GMC.

 

[Hay Dude]

Stellantis has put out so much crap that it will be hard to recover. Unless they adopt Toyota quality it's just a matter of time.

Disagree
My Ram 5500 is the best truck I've ever owned.
Few problems, extremely strong.

My Jeep has also been nothing short of excellent.

In fairness, they were built when Ram & Jeep was under the FCA (Fiat), but little has changed with them in 4 years, except the new Stellantis name.

 

[Renze]

The original transmission, a 5 speed, and the car chassis are a Mercedes design when Chrysler was in bed with them.

The local alderman had a 300C with a Mercedes V6 diesel. Still never a mainstream car here, Europeans expect more stylish design from a car this size.

Thats why it was laughable when they sold the Dodge Caravan (or Chrysler voyager) as Lancia in Europe. Italy is designer all over, and American cars are quite the opposite, the interior of American cars is mostly hard plastic.

 

[tradosaurus]

Disagree
My Ram 5500 is the best truck I've ever owned.
Few problems, extremely strong.

My Jeep has also been nothing short of excellent.

In fairness, they were built when Ram & Jeep was under the FCA (Fiat), but little has changed with them in 4 years, except the new Stellantis name.

SUV's to avoid buying

 

[paulsharvey]

Isn't Opel GM owned?

 

[LouNY]

Disagree
My Ram 5500 is the best truck I've ever owned.
Few problems, extremely strong.

My Jeep has also been nothing short of excellent.

In fairness, they were built when Ram & Jeep was under the FCA (Fiat), but little has changed with them in 4 years, except the new Stellantis name.

My 2002, 2015 and current 2019's have all provided me with good reliable service. My current 1500 has the Light Frost Beige and Mountain Tan interior which I really like with a "bench" seat and the 6'4" "long" box it was a difficult truck to find and can't be replicated any more,

Unless RAM brings back some nicer interiors then the current selection it may be my last RAM.

 

[kenmbz]

My 2011 Jeep GC has had:
Water pump and radiator both failed.
When brakes are worn almost to end (not hitting the warning yet) they lock up and catch fire due to the poor design.
The heater door flaps broke on both the passenger and driver side. Was able to replace the passenger side. The design was done really poorly as the insulation on the drivers side flap has moved, getting the heater door stuck in heat position.
This is a common problem and the whole core needs to be removed to fix a simple flap door. Worst design I have ever seen.
The lights are constantly needing to be replaced, oem from Jeep don't last long and the HT headlights come on every time you start the car day or night, so they don't last and cost $40 each when I replace them.
There are tons of other problems with hubs, and anti-lock brakes and both of the computers where replaced when it was under warranty. Engine and Light computers (yes a whole box and circuit boards to control the lighting system).

The engine itself has been good, the hemi V8, but so many other issues......

nothing like heat in the summer and getting a long screwdriver out to unstick the pads when smoke starts coming out from one of the wheel wells.

 

[Renze]

Isn't Opel GM owned?

In 2011 they sold their profitable part to PSA to make quick money