Weekend Head Scratcher: Will 2011 Be "Year Of The Chrysler"?

I think the 3rd quarrter of 2011 will yeild some suprising results for Chrysler. I also see, in years to come, Ralph Gilles riding the fast-track to CEO. He's truly one of the great car-guys in the industry.

I am hoping the new Durango will be better than the second generation. We have a 2000 SLT and love it. It tows well (and averaged 13.5 mpg loaded down and towing a car from CA to WI). 150k pretty trouble free miles and its still pretty solid. I also like the 300C and, since I have a track toy, I would take a Challenger if I were in the market for a pony car. I thought the Journey would be decent but after riding around in a friends 2008 I thought better of it. My but was asleep in 20 minutes. Maybe they will fix that but it seems all car companies now have seats made of slate covered with a bit of leather. I haven't liked the styling of the last two generations of Sebring and the Caliber is not attractive...in any way...at all...whatsoever. The Avenger isn't bad looking but just seems so average in every way. If they made the Stormtrooper Edition on the other hand! I hope they do well. If they ever make a hot hatch that you wouldn't mind being seen in I would get one for my commuter car. After all, I need to have some reason to wear my Mopar Performance jacket other than track days.

One of the many myths about Chrysler like the 300 is an old E Class, "superb Daimler management", and "government" bailout of 1980 (well, today that would be true, since the banks that loaned Chrysler money in 1980 are practically run by the government now), is the "factories are old and antiquated" line. Most of Chrysler factories are very modern and have the latest technology, especially in the area of flex manufacturing. FIAT having read the American press reports about Chrysler expected much worse when they toured Chrysler stamping, engine and assembly plants the first time. They were surprised how modern the plants were. Why? Because they assumed that the media's coverage was accurate. So I'm not surprised that tomLU86 thinks they are behind GM (I guess he thinks GM is pretty backwards too, but it's not). Oh, one more myth I forgot to mention, that Chrysler builds all their cars in Mexico. Chrysler has 23 assembly, stamping, engine, and transmission plants. Five of those are in Mexico and two are in Canada. The rest are in the US. That's more than two thirds for those of you who are math challenged. They used to have an assembly plant in Graz Austria but I believe it was sold to Magna. Part of that "superb Daimler management" perhaps.

Sorry, but there's no way. Sure, the new Grand Cherokee is nice. The Challenger is sweet, but its volume is negligible. Have you seen the resale values on 2010 Sebrings/300s? They're already at the 50-60% level. We're talking about a vehicle that loses HALF of its value when you drive it off the lot. The new Charger/300 are very similar to the old. I wouldn't even consider them new generations, just facelifts. Same should be said about the 200. Only exceptions to their old product is the Fiat stuff. Sure that will do well... at first. But with their Ram trucks getting their ass handed to them by Chevy/Ford, I wonder how much profit can be realized. There is quite simply no hype for any Chrysler product right now. No innovation. Nothing worth talking about. Blah, blah, and blah.