Automotive News [sub] reports that Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has ordered facelifts of five ChryCo models within the next year and a half. Although it might actually be more accurate to describe the refresh order as being for five nameplates of two basic “models”. After all, the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivans are nearly identical under the skin, as are the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot. Apparently the PT Cruiser will be updated as well, although on an unspecified timeline. Besides the obvious question this brings up (why, God, why would they waste precious publicly-funded resources reheating unwanted leftovers?) there’s the issue of how Chrysler will get these updates to market on an accelerated timeline. Apparently the answer is that Chrysler plans on rehiring an undisclosed number of recently-fired designers, engineers and developers and giving them overtime. Paging Mike Donoughe! Meanwhile, Marchionne’s plan must still be approved by the Chrysler BoD and the Presidential Task Force on Autos.
“After all, the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan minivans are nearly identical under the skin”
But there nearly identical on the surface too. And that’s the problem. There is not enough differentiation between them. Maybe Sergio saw what VW did with their minivan and decided that two minvans that looked nearly alike was too much.
You can pot lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.</I. – Anon
Chrysler's first priority should be its well known reliability and durability issues. Buyers won't waste money on a car so problematic duking it out with the dealer for warranty work will be a regular occurrence.
I guess it’s a better idea than cutting the cost of the interiors by 50% are deciding that they were just going to slap larger bodies on platforms rather than incurring the costs of stretching them, lets be honest, they don’t have alot to work with and have to find something to try and keep some $ flowing in until they do.
5 facelifts in 18 months – isn’t that what made Michael Jackson’s nose fall off?
Hasn’t Fiat learned anything from history?
Seriously, I’d leave the looks alone and spend the facelift money on quality improvements.
What Chrysler does best, rapid product development on a budget. Hopefully that skill wasn’t lost in the tumult of the last five years.
So what’s up with the Sebring/Avenger, has Fiat decided the turd will never shine up and to start over fresh?
The problem for both Chrysler and GM is having the administration looking over their shoulders at every decision. If you ever want to stifle management you do just that. Decisons are now being made in minimalist mode, inexpensive fixes that make you look like you are doing something but won’t cost you your job if you fail.
You will never see another Viper, you will never see another Tom Gale. Making a dozen correct calls as Lutz did at Chrysler, won’t save you if you make one bad one.
Operating in an atmosphere of fear doesn’t encourage risk taking. You will see both companies fade away making bland “sure things.”
Hey Marchionne! Keep plucking that chicken!
midelectric,
Last I heard the 200c was approved for development. Hopefully Sergio hasn’t changed his mind.
Thank God for the PT update, I haven’t had enough of the Woodward “Special Edition” models yet.
Chrysler cars have better exterior stylijng than most GM and FOrds, not to mention Toyotas and Hondas!!
So why the hell do they need a stupid facelift?
WHat they Really need is better QUALITY and RELIABILITY and ERGONOMICS INSIDE, NOT outside cosmetic BS!!!
Doesn’t anybody make real photographs anymore? I’m sick and tired of badly photoshopped pics…
Ingvar: You want real photographs of a Compass off road? We’re not miracle workers you know…
Unfortunately the patient has a cracked rib, four broken limbs, and a skull fracture…
/face-lift ain’t gonna help
I thought the PT was basically phased-out. Did FIAT resurrect it?
MrDot: Yes. The weird part is that it is still supposed to be phased out by 2011… so why facelift it?
“The weird part is that it is still supposed to be phased out by 2011… so why facelift it?”
They wouldn’t bother if they hadn’t planned to give them a new lease on life. Expect them to soldier on for at least four more years. What it does tell you, isn’t so much about the facelifted cars, but the ones they din’t plan to facelift. It means the Chrysler Sebring/Dodge Avenger is to be discontinued, probably replaced by some Fiat derived cars.
What surprises me most, in the news on the PT Cruiser. I mean, how old is that thing?
Put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. – Anon
Chrysler’s first priority should be correcting its abysmal reliability and durability record. Buyers have options. They won’t waste money on cars so problematic duking it out with the dealer for warranty work will be a regular occurrence.
I have to agree with Autosavant here. Aside from the Sebring, Chrysler products (at least from the outside) have been fairly appealing. The problem is the cheap interiors (fairly easy to fix) and the terrible engine/transmission/durability thing. This will be hard money to spend because it will not be immediately apparent to the customer for several years.
why would they waste precious publicly-funded resources reheating unwanted leftovers?
Because they need to build something “American” in order to offset all of the Fiat designs that they plan on bringing over.
I’m still betting on the domestic lineup being reduced over time, with chunks of it possibly being phased out. In the long run, there will probably be only a few US-oriented designs, with the rest of them being “world cars” (in other words, Fiats that have been federalized but designed primarily for non-American customers.)
PT Cruiser is still better than what replaced it (e.g. non-AWD versions of DS with a hatch: Caliber). People who do not care about looks are especially hot on it. It’s inexpensive, spacious, and economical, reliability was at least acceptable. Certainly it’s not Fit, but it’s a good competitor for the current xB. I wouldn’t mind a version of PT Cruiser after a weight reduction and with a smaller engine (perhaps bring back old Neon 2.0, or use the World Engine even).
@jpcavanaugh :
… have been …
exactly, past tense, and you guys should start looking from a todays perspective. what has been in the past doesnt matter, you should concentrate on today. so, are chryslers/dodges/jeeps designs appealing today?
T&C/Caravan – NO! dammit its a minivan, and they should make it one nameplate (make T&C only the upper trim level)
sebring/avenger – many say NO (me 2)
the upcoming? 200c looks alot like opel insignia
– not so good
aspen/durango – the aspen has been killed, the durango should be killed 2 and is hideous
300c/charger – they look cool, but the 300c is around since 2005 needs a facelift
pt cruiser – girls car, is already a 10years old design, if it still sells then, whythehellnot, make a facelift
and thats all of chryslers lineup, not much huh?
i wont go into other dodge/jeep nameplates as im a lazyass, but chrysler could easily be killed off
concerning fiat in the US:
i dont think fiat will fare well in the US, their cars are too unreliable too small (tiny) and too stylish for the americans. even alfas wont sell in big numbers, sure some! car enthusiasts will (want to) buy them but not enough to make it profitable
btw, alfas dont sell well in the EU either, they are expensive (audi money) and are percieved as unreliable, altho fun to drive.
if they are to bring the fiat lineup here
which fiat brand can be rebadges as an US brand, lets see…
alfas – near luxury sporty cars
fiat – cheap small cars
lancia – luxury/girly cars
iveco – commercial trucks
and
dodge – cheap & sporty
chrysler – stylish & (trying to be) near luxury
jeep – SUVs
see, its hard to match the brands
i guess no1 would be buying dodge for audi money, would they?
edit 2 prev post
lancia is also near luxury
and the last thought of mine is derived from
alfas (audi money) is sporty
dodge is sporty
—–
alfas rebadged as dodges -> wont do
Good for Chrysler. Overhauling the interiors with higher quality materials is a good move for them, and one they can do quickly and fairly inexpensively. Sounds like an obvious move to me.
But I have no idea why the Compass is being kept around.
I’d get rid of the Compass and possibly the Chrysler Town & Country (Do Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealers need two cheap Jeeps and two brands of minivans?), spend zero development money on the Caliber and PT Cruiser, try to make the Jeep Patriot more reliable and more worthy of the Jeep brand but keep the same styling, and focus most of the development money on making the Dodge Caravan class competitive. I’d spend development money on the Jeep Patriot only because the styling is already pretty good. An updated Dodge Caravan plus recently redesigned Dodge Ram and new Grand Cherokee make some sense in the market when paired with a better lineup of small cars to meet CAFE requirements. I don’t think warmed over Mitsubishi variants give you enough volume to balance the high profit low fuel economy trucks.
FFS… What they need are substantive redesigns, not facelifts. But even a facelift can go awry if it’s done hastily. There goes the “above average reliability according to Consumer Reports” that they promised.
So, to fix these unappealing vehicles, Fiat proposes to use US taxpayer money to hire back the very people who designed them in the first place and PAY THEM OVERTIME to give them facelifts.
Wow. And in the mean time, Honda will bring out a new Odyssey and Civic that will be 10 years ahead of these vehicles in terms of quality, reliability, economy, safety, performance,…
Ingvar: “Doesn’t anybody make real photographs anymore? I’m sick and tired of badly photoshopped pics…”
No, Ingvar, the Compass really does look as ridiculous as a Jeep Liberty and RAV-4 teleporter accident!
“No, Ingvar, the Compass really does look as ridiculous as a Jeep Liberty and RAV-4 teleporter accident!”
Yeah, well. I wasn’t actually criticising the car itself or its fugly exterior. I was thinking more of the obvious appearance of a cut-out, the glaring problems and the faulty lighting. If they wants us to swallow the bait, at least they could give some effort in making it look plausible. It looks like a studio shot badly inserted on a background. In fact, the background also looks fake. I don’t know if there’s any part of that picture that is “real” at all. It’s all make-believe, including the notion that some stupid punter would actually use a Compass on a trail.
I love how everyone on here is an expert.
How long do you think it takes to create a federalize a drivetrain (engine or transmission)? How long do you think it takes to redesign an existing model? How about creating a new vehicle from an all new platform?
Again… It’s easy to be an “expert” sitting behind the computer and bitching about all the “mistakes” that Marchionne is making…
Get a clue…
I agree with Autojunkie…
I have genuine faith in Marchionne.
Fiat et al is no Cerberus. This is not a private equity firm running Chrysler any more… this is an actual car company, one that was saved by Marchionne, and while its no Toyota, Fiat group is nothing to sneeze at.
It seems to me he is making the effort. This company was literally left to rot under Cerberus and there was barely any product development. I am suprised that were were able to actually see a 2011 GC in the flesh.
It takes time to do things that it seems people want instantly and if a refresh of some models will help until the real changes arrive, then I dont see this issue.
Since we have no mention of the Avenger/Sebring twins being refreshed, that might be a good sign that the 200C might be a reality. It will be interesting to see if they offer a Dodge counterpart.
SherbornSean :
September 24th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
So, to fix these unappealing vehicles, Fiat proposes to use US taxpayer money to hire back the very people who designed them in the first place and PAY THEM OVERTIME to give them facelifts.
Wow. And in the mean time, Honda will bring out a new Odyssey and Civic that will be 10 years ahead of these vehicles in terms of quality, reliability, economy, safety, performance,…
You mean, the rides-on-a-10-year-old-platform Odyssey? No WAY Honda would do that, right? Oh, yeah, they would. And then they’d overprice the thing.
And if Chrysler has an opportunity to improve the cars they already build, what’s the problem with that? Are they in business, or not?
I might consider a premium refreshed PT cruiser with improved sound insulation, a sweet interior, that new ChryCo stereo (really, best in class in many ways) and more GT bits.
If it was cheap. Which it should be, that tooling is from 1999.
What can I say? I like hot hatches.
They need to bring back a manual transmission option on the PT too. It’s the only that kept my wife from trading hers in on a new one.
Reading between the tealeaves, I infer that the facelift of the PT Cruiser means that the nameplate will survive on a Fiat platform. Which goes against the previously stated goal of turning Chrysler into a true luxury brand, but might make sense in terms of preserving volume.
The other WTF: they are keeping the Jeep Compass? That seems like an obvious one to kill asap, so Jeep can focus more resources on the more brand-relevant Patriot.
I, too, am heartened by the lack of facelift for the Sebring/Avenger. That means they are headed for oblivion sooner rather than later.
So much speculation based on fear!
This will no longer be your grand daddies Chrysler,
but your own, new and far better car company and truly complete product line.
Fiat will not only push for ridding the waist from ChryslerDodgeJeep lines including redundancies with no no real advantage to it’s customers or Board members. But Fiat will also be pushing to implement all their technologies that have greatly improved all their product lines(the proof is in what the auto journalists in Europe are raving on about.) And are now selling cars that are giving Toyota a run for their money in the European markets.
Seeking to refresh their major 5 lines will provide an obvious delineation from the past reputation for less than spectacular mechanicalelectrical reliability and their bodychassis durability, while maintaining all and more that long time ChryslerDodge fans and supporters will appreciate and recognize.
THIS IS THE NEW FIATCHYSLER!
You Can Expect More!
And you will be pleasantly surprised!
Luca Di Montezemolo & Sergio Machionne are
the real deal and represent the kind of genius leadership America and the world needs!
Honesty combined with a “Can Do” attitude to make the impossible or highly resisted work to the advantage of ALL!!!! Even those who start out rejecting it out of hand as impossible.
This is not the Old Fiat.
This is FIAT REBORN!
Remember… FIAT mean: “MAKE IT SO”!
The people want more and FIAT has listened!
We want leading edge, reliable cars that are affordable, environmentally sound and great fun to drive! FIAT! ~MAKE IT SO!~