Firstly, I think this was a cool post, Samaritan. Second, I agree that it pisses me off when people can’t even frame a response around the OP as well, and then insinuate something negative about the poster on top of that. I don’t much care for it either, but as posters here are wont to do, the first responders are almost always crass, off topic, and less than helpful. Combining that with the abundance of criticism against domestic car manufacturers on here, you shouldn’t expect to get a whole lot of conversation going on the domestic automobile industry, but it won’t help you much to use coarse language against thread hijackers. I won’t go so far as to call names, but for the record, Zambini, you were called out because your post was an utterly useless and presumptuous hijack.
I’ve been wondering the same thing about Cerberus myself, having heard some talk of it on the radio and in the news. Chrysler is not only bloated, but lacking direction. The 300 was their halo model, but only a select group of people is interested in that sort of car. What Chrysler lacks is the mainstream breadwinners in the compact and midsize segments. Every other manufacturer has one, in my opinion. The Ford Fusion is a competent (though unproven) contender and GM’s upcoming Epsilon-platform offerings (the Saturn Aura and upcoming Chevy Malibu) are very strong domestic entries. In my opinion, Chrysler never had a car like this … the Sebring could not escape the market association as a woman’s convertible, and its sedan variants (Intrepid/Avenger) could not distinguish themselves in recent years as competitive against the more tightly-engineered midsizers. Chrysler tried to make up lost ground with the Charger and 300, but probably shot themselves in the foot again. The Neon, even though it was engineered poorly compared to its competition, was at least still identifiable as a compact. They replaced it with the rather obscure Calibre as their sole entry in the compact market. Nearly all of Chrysler’s entries are essentially two things: not engineered to be competitive, and not mainstream enough to be on the shopping list of people looking at a Civic, Accord, Corolla, Camry, Focus, Taurus, Fusion, etc.
I’d like to see the change in ownership turn over a new leaf for Chrysler. I’d like to see them abandon the ghastly Calibre and develop a premium compact car that can compete with the Mazda3 or Volkswagen Golf; a small car that finally deserves to wear the upscale Chrysler marque. They also need a midsizer that isn’t platformed into four or more variants; a consolidation of the Avenger/Sebring lines into a single model in sedan and coupe form. Part of me wonders whether the Dodge brand is even viable in the marketplace as a traditional consumer brand, and whether it wouldn’t just do better as Cerberus’ commercial grade truck brand. Abandon the Dodge passenger cars and focus Dodge on what they’re best associated with: big ol’ trucks for carryin’ dirty stuff. Likewise as you suggested in the OP, auction Jeep off to the highest bidder; I really don’t think the brand could suffer any worse under independent ownership than it already has in the midst of the Chrysler’s recent trend towards “urbanizing” their models. The Compass? What in the world were they thinking with that hideous abortion? Neat idea, maybe … awful execution which is all too indicative of too many executives having a say in what the market wants.
I’ve watched the Big 2.8 as you have, and I really am impressed with the progress General Motors has been making. They are a few steps ahead of Ford (and light years ahead of Chrysler) in leveraging global assets to reduce engineering and development costs and get fresh products to the market very quickly. Unlike Ford’s ongoing floundering with making Mercury and Lincoln into standout brands, and Chrysler’s inability to define and differentiate its own brands against the competition, GM made the difficult decision very early on to consolidate brands by doing away with Oldsmobile. Regretfully, the marque faded away in an attempt to appeal to young and old alike during their stylistic turnaround in the 90’s. They ended up alienating older buyers with radical new styling, and yet they failed to win over younger buyers at the same time. GM knew they had to cut their losses and pull the plug to redirect their efforts toward strengthening Buick and Cadillac, and we are just now beginning to see the fruits of those efforts with the new Buick Enclave and 2008 CTS, both of which are genuine global competitors against the likes of Lexus, Acura, Infiniti, or even the German brands. The Saturn Aura and its new twin, the upcoming Malibu, are very strong entries in the midsize category; incredible values with great style that can’t be found with Toyota or Honda. The only thing GM needs now is a really competent compact car with quality internal materials to go against the tightly-engineered small cars from Germany and Japan. At Chrysler, it seems like this very competitive slice of the market isn’t even on their fucking radar, and it’s pretty sad.
Like you, I really hope we can see something decisive and fresh in the coming years as a result of the change in ownership. The way things are, Chrysler cannot continue to rely on the halo effect of the 300 to make the rest of its models into reliable breadwinners. They need to target a market that’s just slightly above “mainstream” but not quite “luxury”. Mazda and Volkswagen are good examples of unique brands with character and quality at a good price. Chrysler needs to study them and produce something competitive, attractive, well-built, efficient, sleek, sensible, restrained yet sporty with a uniquely intangible American-ness to it … all that as opposed to something ostentatious, unrestrained, poorly-built, bloated and wasteful like the 300. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 300, but it’s a niche product that will never make Chrysler profitable. Build what I described and people will buy it, simple as that.