What's Wrong With This Picture: Fly Like Fiat, Sting Like A Dodge Edition
Last week we took the counter-intuitive step of calling out Chrysler for refusing to hype its forthcoming products. “Let’s face it:” we wrote at the time, “Chrysler needs buzz, hype, awareness, or some kind of excitement surrounding its future generally and its forthcoming products in specific (if only in the irritating “teaser” format) almost as much as it needs anything else.” Well our wish has been granted, sort of, as this rendering of a 2013 B-segment Dodge hatchback has hit the internet [via AutoBirdBlog] to inspire rare optimism about the Chrysler Group’s future. For a number of reasons though, this is not the buzz-builder we were looking for.
First off, Chrysler has a huge hill to climb to even survive until this vehicle’s 2013 launch date. Chrysler had promised not to show any vehicles until three months before they go to market, so instead they’re showing pictures of a vehicle that’s three years out? Fiat’s Chrysler experiment will live or die with the 14 “interventions” they’ve got planned for the second half of this year. Because these vehicles are based on Chrysler’s current, uncompetitive stable, there is plenty of reason to be pessimistic about the actual improvements they will offer. Moreover, Chrysler will be dependent on these warmed-up leftovers until about 2013, when Fiat-platformed vehicles begin to replace the entire lineup.
Moreover, we’ve seen this particular Dodge subcompact before. The Hornet concept of 2006 showed the way to a Dodge subcompact hatchback, back when Chrysler was trying to get it built on a Chery or Nissan Versa platform. This new rendering looks distinctly different from the Hornet, but we’ve known for some time that Dodge wanted a vehicle like this in its lineup. And looking at the differences between the Hornet and this latest rendering offer yet another reason for Fiatsler pessimism: the new-look Hornet is “inspired” by Fiat’s European-model styling to the point that first impressions are of a re-grilled, re-tweaked Grand Punto. Equally troubling: its underpinning will likely be identical to the Alfa Romeo MiTo, which is sure to spearhead the rumored return of Alfa to the US (if it comes to pass).
Since Chrysler may or may not be listening, we’ll be way more specific this time: the fate of Chrysler rests on the “refreshed” vehicles debuting in the second half of this year. These are the products that will have to inspire faith in Fiat’s leadership of Chrysler, and therefore, these are the products that need to start being teased. Otherwise, the company won’t be around to capitalize on the hype generated by teasers like this one.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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If this is to be a reskinned Grande Punto, then I can see it being the next Caliber. It doesn't look bad, as far as concept sketches go. However, the Hornet was a response to the all-the-rage (at the time) MINI Cooper, a much smaller car than the Grande Punto, and they even entertained the idea of using the same Brazil-built 1.6L engines as found in the Coopers. If they were serious about a Hornet, they could come up with something based on the Panda more so than the GP. But this is a definite Caliber replacement in my opinion.
We're picking at crumbs here. As previous posters have noted--this is one moment from a 5-hour presentation, and very likely this is one sketch from a large number of proposals still undergoing evaluation. I should also point out that if this is indeed the upcoming Fiat-based b-segment entry, it is not the new Dodge we should be watching. According to the previously announced Fiat business plan, the first of the Fiat-engineered Dodges will be a 2012 c-segment car that will replace the Caliber. That will inevitably be a much higher-volume vehicle, and it will arrive a year earlier (give or take) than this one. As for the styling...hard to tell from such a fuzzy sketch but yes, it looks like a fairly generic profile with a rather flavorful front end, at least on par with the competition (Versa, Yaris, Accent, Aveo). Wake me when we get some real intel on the 2010/2011 refreshes.