Find Reviews by Make:
Chrysler will hire 400-500 new workers to help build the upcoming Dodge Dart compacts at its Illinois plant. The workers will be added to the plant’s current shifts.
The positions will be part-time hourly jobs or full-time temporary positions. We imagine the UAW will have something to say about the use of temp workers. The union has yet to comment on the matter, but Chrysler also said a third shift may be added. The plant also builds the Jeep Compass and Patroit and will produce their replacement, which should bow in 2013.
28 Comments on “Chrysler Hiring Up To 500 Temporary And Part-Time Workers To Build Dodge Dart...”
Read all comments
I wonder if this will at all affect the quality of the Darts?
Whew!!!
That was a close call.
This thing would have been cursed with the Mitsubishi kiss of death had it been built at the Normal, Illinois plant (where the Mitsu Galant & Eneavor are/were built).
But they do build the Mitsubishi GS at the Belvidere plant…
Hmmm…
(I want for this car to succeed, as I think it will be competitively priced, and I like the 3 engines all with manual trans choice. Let it drive well, be reliable, and undercut the Ford Focus by 6 grand and it will ‘drive further’).
I don’t see how this is going to undercut the focus by 6 grand with comparable equipment. I don’t think B-segment cars even do that. Maybe 1 or 2 grand at most.
I could see base Darts selling for 13k to 14k, while better equipped and more performance oriented ones depart dealer lots for closer to 18k to 19k, in real transaction (and not MSRP) terms.
Whether I’m correct or not, time will tell.
And that brings me to another thing, which is that MSRP is far more relevant to some manufacturers/dealers than others.
I’ve helped two relatives purchase cars lately, and one was purchased for a shade under 33k and had an MSRP of 41k, while the other was purchased for $18,700 and had a window MSRP of $23,6xx.
One purchase was on a supplier (true supplier – not some dealer advert of supplier pricing for all!) discount, while the other was just a good ole’ fashion negotiation.
Neither involved trade-ins.
I still don’t see how this is a compact. Looks more like a midsize to me.
In case you haven’t noticed, compact today is the size of midsize cars back then. Honda Civic is the size of Accords back when. Same thing with Corolla, about the size of the early Camrys. BMW 3-series is also about the size of old 5-series. Thankfully this growth period has seemingly ended now, many new cars today are the same size or even smaller than their predecessor. Of course we’re talking about Japanese or European compacts. American compacts like the car’s namesake back then was always quite a bit larger than import compacts, might even be the same size (roughly) of this Dart.
Accord was a compact back then. Legend was a midsize Honda. In Europe there were two types of compact – small compact, like Escort, larger compact, like Mondeo, and midsize, like Scorpio. Full size car were always luxury like Mercedes S-class or BMW 7-series.
The decklid looks pretty short from this angle, and the car also looks narrow. It looks like a Civic, Corolla, Cruze, Elantra and Focus competitor to me.
The Dart is 1.2 inches longer than the Jetta, which is probably the roomiest of its competitors.
Someone has already done all the comparisons for you all:
http://www.allpar.com/cars/dodge/dart/comparisons.html
Ha! Thank you for the link. Looks like the new Dart beats the old in just about every measures except length. My, how the compacts has grown over the years…
What’s amazing is that it raises the question as to whether we’ve truly come that far in terms of improving mpg in 35 years or so?
Mileage can’t be compared – the ’75 had a 6 cylinder engine with a carburetor, de-tuned for rudimentary smog controls. The 2012 has a four with EFI and fully electronic ignition controlled by a more sophisticated ECU. There’s the 3-speed auto vs 6-speed, and the ’75 rode 14″ rims with an upright grille and far less raked windscreen.
BTW, Mr Whopee, my ’95 Altima was considered a compact, and it’s virtually the same size as the new Dart. My ’68 Montego was considered an intermediate, but it was a bit bigger than a 300, today’s “full size” car. Car sizes have shrunk and now are recovering some, but not all, of the loss.
Besides, the government shouldn’t be basing cars on interior volume. Take a car and dramatically improve space utilization, and it’s the same car if the length, width, and wheelbase haven’t changed. Maybe government should leave size designations to automakers and customers to determine.
Methinks there be howls of outrage emanating from within certain UAW union halls in Illinois today…..
Sidenote:
At the Detroit NAIAS they had a display of the Dart laid on it’s side.
I really liked the simplistic and aerodynamic undercarriage of the Dart. The aero add-ons even had hinged plastic doors at the locations where you need to service the vehicle.
Inexperienced workers building an iffy car, a recipe for disaster.
I can’t say for sure, but I’ll bet that many of the “new” workers will be Belvidere plant workers let go during the previous slowdown who will be brought back as part-time and temp workers. They’ll be pissed about the terms of employment but will take the jobs none the less.
Do you know how often this happens? No one said that when Toyota and Mercedes open their new plants, and they are doing just fine.
So, they yank over an already iffy car that you can’t see backwards out of, cheaply slap some Charger bits on it, and hire a bunch of temps to build it?
Ladies and Gents, the Dodge Aspen has returned.
Chrysler is hiring about 400 to 500 new employees to support the production of the Dodge Dart compact car at its plant in Belvidere, Illinois.
The additional workers will be added to the company’s existing two shifts, said Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson.
About 2,700 work at the plant now.
FWIW, I had a very well built Dodge Lancer ES Turbo that was built in Belvidere. At the end of its 160K miles, 11-year time with us, it still had a virtually rattle-free interior.
I know that some suppliers have people on site who are temps and these companies have been doing this for a while now. They’re a whole separate deal than regular employees and have no union representation. With the new master contract negotiated in 2007 by the UAW, it allows certain changes to work rules. We’ll see what happens in Belvidere.
Personally, I’m just glad to see a competitive small car from Chrysler.
That trunk opening seems useless. This car should have been hatchback.
^^^ This. With the hatchback stigma apparently wearing off (Audi A7, etc.), you’d think that cars that 20 years ago would certainly have been a hatch would return to the fold. The short decklid look is awesome – but seriously compromises the utility of the trunk. Why not go with a hatch? From the very same company, the Shadow was a hatch and had a significantly longer decklid.
YES YES YES YES YES! The useless trunk lid is turning me off.
Hatches are more noisy, leaky, and less stiff than cars with trunks. Having said that, my 85 LeBaron GTS was a wonderful hatchback.
@gslippy: I should have noted that 140,000 of those 160,000 miles were on Georgia’s glass smooth roads. Especially notable as we bought the car in Western Pennsylvania, and not many cars survive without the interior being shaken apart.
Car companies need to use real roads in the rustbelt to assess assembly quality, their “Belgian brick” roads aren’t getting the job done. With the D3, it’s not like they’d have to go far…
My reaction to this headline was not concern about the quality of the product they’ll make, but rather gladness to see Chrysler expects high demand for the car.
I know I’m interested in it.
My sister-in-law works on the floor of the Belvidere plant. I can’t wait to hear the stories.