Dodge Has Its Own Inventory Problems

by Derek Kreindler

Published: December 5th, 2012

While the GM inventory woes have been a fixture of TTAC for months, excess inventory isn’t the sole domain of GM’s pickups. Chrysler is having its own issues, with the Dodge Dart suffering from a glut of inventory.

Ward’s Auto reports that there is a 112 day supply of Darts, roughly double the industry’s preferred supply level. While Chrysler’s Illinois plant is cited as a factor in the oversupply of these cars, the launch of the Dart didn’t go as smoothly as planned. Initial sales were poor, hampered by an oversupply of manual transmission cars (yes, heresy, I know).

#Dodge #DodgeDart #Inventory #Supply

Derek Kreindler

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Billfrombuckhead on Dec 05, 2012

Neon was so uncompetitive it was one of the best showroom stock racing cars ever and many are still running around. I see several Neons all the time with over 200k miles. Apparently the Chinese version of the Dart is getting a big push from GAC, one of the major partners of Japanese carmakers. autonews.gasgoo.com/china-news/guangqi-fiat-plans-to-manufacture-up-to-500000-veh-121203.shtml

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- Geeber on Dec 06, 2012
  
  That's because showroom stock racers are more willing to put up with leaky doors and windows, cheap interior trim and blowing head gaskets. Unfortunately, every one I knew who bought the first-generation Neon experienced those problems, and more. Just like the 1957 cars and the "cab forward" cars of the 1990s, the Neon was another Chrysler product with great styling and interesting features that ended up falling apart long before the loan was paid in full. The second-generation Neon was somewhat better, but Chrysler killed the coupe and the interesting versions. The bottom line is that there were plenty of better cars on the market than the Neon, and virtually everyone knew it.
  
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- Danio3834 on Dec 06, 2012
  
  @geeber "The second-generation Neon was somewhat better, but Chrysler killed the coupe and the interesting versions. The bottom line is that there were plenty of better cars on the market than the Neon, and virtually everyone knew it." I agree with your points about the legacy of the Neon, but at the time when they were new, there really wasn't a better car in the segment. They were incredibly popular at first due to their larger size, peppy engines and decent handling. Also, IMO the second generation had the most interesting versions. The SRT-4, with the 2.4L Turbo, the updated ACR and R/T with the 2.0L version of the 1.6L mill found in the Mini.
  
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- Billfrombuckhead on Dec 06, 2012
  
  @geeber There are still a lots of Neons driving around with high miles. Just because an expert like you didn't like the Neon doesn't mean many still like the car. My business partners daughter has a 200k miles one that has done very well for them. All the armchair CEO's dissed the Fiat 500 and now have been proved wrong. The Dart R/T will be a formidable player in the compact/midsize field. Mark it down.
  
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- Geeber on Dec 07, 2012
  
  @geeber The Civic was a better car over the long haul - more refined, more reliable and better built. The Neon was like the 1957 Chrysler Corporation cars - they looked great on the showroom floor, and they outperformed the competition, but, after about a year, most people realized they would have been better off with a GM car. Just substitute "Neon" for "1957 Chrysler Corporation car" and "Civic" for "GM car," and we have a case of history repeating itself.
  
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- Geeber on Dec 07, 2012
  
  @geeber I'm sure there are some Neons that made it to 200,000 miles (although plenty of Civics did that, and more). I'm sure that some people want to defend the Neon. Over at curbsideclassic.com, there is poster who defends the Chevrolet Vega as a great exercise in engineering and a terrific car. Just because a car has some fans doesn't mean it was a great car. Some people like the AMC Pacer... We also have to look at what those people did to keep the 200-k cars running. I remember a college classmate of mine who had a 1986 Dodge Daytona in the early 1990s. He said it had over 150,000 miles on it. I was impressed, and asked what work had done to it. By the time he was finished listing the parts he had replaced, he could have built a whole new car. But his father was some sort of zone representative for Chrysler Corporation, so it didn't bother him.
  
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Cheezeweggie on Dec 06, 2012

Anybody alive in the 1970's knows to avoid anything made by Fiat. Apparently that opinion was handed down to our children.

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FJ60LandCruiser on Dec 06, 2012

A mediocre car in a crowded segment with a poison manual transmission no one wants. We can debate the merits of this car all we want, but for the money there are so many better cars and buyers in this segment don't give a crap about european handling, style, or a manual tranny. They want cheap, boring, reliable, and an automatic. So far FIAT's bailout of Chrysler has been a mess of fuzzy math accomplished by liquidating pre-Sergio stock of Sebrings, truck sales, and fleet sales of cop cars.

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- Danio3834 on Dec 06, 2012
  
  "We can debate the merits of this car all we want, but for the money there are so many better cars and buyers in this segment don’t give a crap about european handling, style, or a manual tranny" This just isn't true. I wanted to see for myself and made a point to compare the Dart head to head dollar for dollar with it's direct competitiors and I would hands down pick this car over any of the others at the same price. It has the nicest interior available in the segment with the most usable space and can be had with a ton of options (if you want them) that most of the competition doesn't even offer. No it doesn't beat the competition by 1mpg in fuel economy, and no you can't get a high output engine...yet. But it offers the best overall package IMO. You owe it to yourself to check them out.
  
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- Billfrombuckhead on Dec 07, 2012
  
  How about a 446,000 mile Neon? I've seen plenty of Hondas with big stacks of repair bills in the glovebox http://www.allpar.com/cotm/2009/neon.html Then there's all the races SCCA races it won against Civic. http://www.allpar.com/neon/scca.html BTW Jeep outsells Land Cruiser much worse than the gradual introductio of the Dart vs the Civic. Most of the old Land Crusiers I've seen have had their engines replaced with Chevy small blocks. I can't wait to revist this in ayear just like all the people saying the FIAT wouldn't take off.
  
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- Corntrollio on Dec 07, 2012
  
  @billfrombuckhead As I mentioned several times, I've compared a Honda repair record to an Audi repair record, both through 100K miles. The Audi was serviced for free at the dealerships for 4 years/50K, and then at an indie mechanic. The Honda was always serviced at an indie mechanic. The Honda was more expensive to service through 100K, even if you put a dollar value on the cheap service intervals before 50K on the Audi (mostly oil changes). The owner did not realize that the Honda had any non-routine repairs because he never read the invoices for the 60K, 75K, and 90K major services, but just paid them. They were not cheap. The Audi would have passed the Civic at 110K due to timing belt, but not by as much as people think. People on TTAC quote numbers allegedly told to them by dealerships for German-car repairs, but even the lowest and most plausible numbers they quote are often more than 2X what an indie would charge.
  
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Billfrombuckhead on Dec 07, 2012

At current sales figures they will sell 60,000 a year so there is a market for this car as it is, thats more sales than the entire Scion lineup. Dart 2.0 is weeks away with a industry leading 2.4L engine and a industry leading 9 speed automatic comes after that.

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