Fiat/Chrysler

We all know by now that Chrysler Corp. has failed. It has limped and struggled since the late 1970s barely clinging to life, being acquired by other auto manufacturers, venture capitalists, and finally the US government. For all the failed ventures, like Daimler-Chrysler and Cerebrus, Chrysler had become the lame duck of the American automotive market. But then, Fiat stepped up to the plate and offered to take control of Chrysler. And they were willing to actually pay money! Rightfully so, the US government jumped at the chance to offload their interests as quickly as possible. Now we're starting to see the first fruits of the partnership and we're impressed!

Let's go into Fiat SpA's corporate structure a bit here. Fiat owns brands like Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Ferrari, Maserati, and specialty companies like Magnetti Marelli and other commercial interests. Now that they've added Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram and Mopar to their brands, Fiat has a renewed presence in North America, and a stable of platforms and engineers to rival the best.

The first round of vehicles to sprout from this venture are based off previous models. For North America, we have received a bunch of vehicles, starting with the Chrysler 200 sedan and convertible. For previous model years, these cars carried the name Sebring. Since Sebring had become synonymous with everything wrong at Chrysler, ditching the name was a great idea. Along with aligning its naming structure with its big brother 300, Fiat also felt the vehicle needed a new interior and freshened exterior. After some chassis tuning, the new interior, and updated styling, you'd hardly confuse it for a new car, but you'll notice the improvements immediately. The 200 shares its architecture with the Dodge Avenger. The Avenger received similar improvements, combined with its "baby Charger" styling.

The other major design change came from the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger platform. Both of these vehicles have been effectively re-engineered to offer superior driving dynamics along with world class styling and interior quality. Chrysler's 300 gets a sleeker, more sophisticated look while retaining its commanding presence. Hemi power is still available in the 300C and SRT versions, but the biggest news is the "factory custom" S trim. This is a unique venture aiming to corner some of the aftermarket sales the manufacturers normally miss out on. So far, its unique to the 300, but we wouldn't be surprised to see the S trim stretch across the Chrysler lineup. The Charger comes into its latest iteration with familiar styling at the front, but a sleeker rear, cool wheel designs, and MUCH improved interior. This is what the Charger should have been from the beginning.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Dodge released a terrible, plasticky, poor driving beast they named Journey. Fiat has treated the Journey to a similar touch up process in which the interior was overhauled and the exterior touched up. The biggest news of this vehicle is it's role as the Fiat Freemont. Fiat did a second design on interior and exterior bits for its home market. Although the Journey was sold in Europe, it was not well received. With the Freemont, Fiat is putting a major marketing campaign and much improved styling at the forefront of its charge. With plans to move 30,000 Freemonts a year, the Journey could become the poster child of American automotive products in Europe.

Now, on to the improvements that were underway before Fiat put their hands into the mix. Jeep's new Grand Cherokee and Dodge's new Durango are the product of the Daimler-Chrysler venture. Built on the same platform as the Mercedes ML class SUV, this is a solid driving structure with plenty of room to tune the vehicle character. Jeep's version skews toward off-road luxury whereas the Durango is a family hot rod. Both vehicles have contemporary, high class styling and drive much better than their predecessors.

Also new is the Pentastar V6. This engine is available in every vehicle we've discussed here and in nearly every Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep vehicle. A thoroughly modern V6 capable of competitive horsepower and torque has been a major hole in Chrysler's lineup for years. With the arrival of the Pentastar, power, efficiency and refinement are brought in line with the best in the industry. The Pentastar was originally supposed to be hooked up to a brand new 8 speed automatic at launch, but the delays on transmission development forced Chrysler to release the engine mated to archaic transmissions. For 2012 model year, the 8 speed should begin to be integrated into the lineup.

With all that Fiat has done in such a short time, we're excited to see what's in store for combining resources and platforms in the future. For 2012 or 2013 model year, we will begin to see designs that are optimized for sales on multiple continents. Those vehicles will show the vision of Sergio Marchionne and crew once they're made available for public consumption, but as far as we're concerned, so far so good!

Intro

Welcome to our forum space! We're going to post things that you request and that interest us on here. It will all be automotive related, but sometimes we'll talk new models, sometimes we'll discuss classics and sometimes we'll blog about import tuning. Even automotive politics (unfortunately) has its place here, and may be discussed. You've been warned. Enjoy!