Posted on 06/05/2026 4:34:57 AM PDT by Red Badger
Well, that headline isn’t exactly right. Stellantis – the parent company of Chrysler (as well as the Dodge, Jeep an Ram truck brands) – just killed Chrysler.
As you probably already know, Chrysler has been dying for the past three years. The brand is down to just one model – the Pacifica minivan – because Stellantis decided to cancel the 300 sedan that arguably was the Chrysler brand for many years. It went away at the end of the 2023 model year – which was when Stellantis pulled the plug (so to speak) on the Dodge Charger sedan, which was the shared-platform vehicle the 300 was based on and introduced an electric Charger coupe that literally had to be plugged in. It sold like leprosy, in part because not many people want to plug in and also because the thing had a base price that was about $20,000 higher to start than the last (2023) gas-engined Charger sedan. The fact that it was only available as a two-door compounded the problem because coupes are a harder sell, even when they have engines (because they are less practical than sedans and most people need a practical car).
Chrysler was left with nothing – other than the Pacifica. Which probably ought to have been a Dodge anyhow – because minivans are the most practical of all vehicles and so selling one with a luxury-badge (and price) limited the prospective market to older empty-nester types. The current Pacifica starts around $44k. Back when Dodge sold basic family-hauler minivans such as the Caravan – last available in ’07 or about $19k to start – Dodge sold a lot of them.
Anyhow, it looks like Stellantis is going to rebadge some Fiats (Stellantis also owns that brand) and try to sell them as Chryslers. This is what’s going to end Chrysler, probably – because these rebadged Fiats are crossovers. They are apparently going to be called the Arrow and the Arrow Cross and they are basically re-skinned iterations of the Fiat Grizzly, a small crossover that Fiat will sell in Europe.
Just what the market’s been clamoring for . . . another couple of small crossovers (that aren’t even Chryslers).
Has Stellantis learned nothing from the Hornet debacle over at Dodge? Does anyone remember the Hornet? It’s been dropped from the Dodge roster, in part because the cost of Trump’s tariffs (which made this rebadged Alfa – another brand under the Stellantis umbrella) too expensive to sell here) but also because it wasn’t selling. Not because it’s a bad little crossover – you can read my review of it here – but because it fits in the Dodge lineup like lederhosen on an Eskimo. Dodge’s brand identity is not “euro.” It is boldly, distinctly American. The Charger – not the device – defined that brand. It was so American it’s surprising its fasteners weren’t standard rather than metric. In any case, its big car, rear-drive/front engine layout and V6/V8 lineup certainly were as American as it gets.
And so was the 300, the luxury iteration of the same thing. It was the un-Camry. The big sedan for Americans who wanted a big – and luxurious – American sedan rather than a front-drive sedan from Japan (or an overpriced luxury sedan from Germany). The 300 – when it was last available back in 2023 – came standard with a 3.6 liter V6 for $34,295. A same year Mercedes-Benz E350 sedan came standard with a 2.0 liter four and stickered for $56,750. (It is worth noting that Mercedes did not alter the badging to reflect the downgrade; i.e., why not “E250” rather than E350? Of course everyone knows why. No one trying to sell you less for more advertises the fact.)
The 300 was both brash and a bargain. It was also arguably better in many ways than generally similar (but much more expensive) Euro-luxury brand sedans like the Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series, etc. It was certainly – inarguably – different and that’s an advantage when you are trying to sell something. There’s not much advantage in trying to sell another crossover because everyone else already has a crossover to sell. Many of these are brands closely associated with crossovers. Chrysler has no history with crossovers. If Dodge can’t sell a rebadged Alfa crossover, what makes Stellantis believe that Chrysler can sell rebadged Fiat crossovers?
Meanwhile, there is a way to save Chrysler.
Dodge is in the process of trying to save itself, by offering the Charger as both a sedan and a coupe – and with an engine, too. Why not take the current Charger sedan, lux it up and sell it (with the new inline 3.0 liter straight six) as the new 300? The 3.0 liter inline six would be ideal in a Chrysler 300; much more so than under the hood of a Dodge Charger (which ought to come with a V8, because the Charger is supposed to be a muscle car and no matter how powerful a six is, it can never be the right engine for a muscle car). The six is smooth and quiet and powerful, too. It’s what’s available in the current Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series. If Chrysler were to offer it as standard – and for $20k less than what Benz and BMW want for something similar – with that handsome new body draped over it, the thing would likely sell.
It could save Chrysler.
Instead, it looks like the last Chryslers will be reskinned/rebadged Fiat crossovers. It’s a sad way to go out.
. . .
MOPAR to SUBPAR...
Bring the trucks back under the Dodge name; Ram is the perfect name for how gay that name change is. Also, that electric Charger looks sharp, maybe offer it with an internal combustion engine. Put an inline six back into Jeeps, I would’ve bought one a couple years ago, but hesitated the second I noticed that it was a Fiat V6 engine under the hood.
If it weren’t for Hussein’s expensive and worthless bailout on our tax dollars the auto industry would have consolidated a long time ago and stuff like this wouldn’t exist.
The author is wrong on the V8. It isn’t about cylinders; it is about HP and reliability. The straight six, with dual OHC, is a simpler, more reliable, and lighter setup with approximately the same HP to displacement ratio.
Only two cams are needed, not four.
Only one timing chain is needed, not two
The issue of the cylinder’s fuel mixture leaning out on old sixes is fixed with fuel injection.
The engine is lighter.
Given the tech in engines today, a straight six is a good option.
I understand your hesitation at the V-6 but I have the Pentastar V-6 in my 2018 Wrangler and at 55k mile it hasn’t hiccuped once.
Having said that, the whole Stellantis organization is a major cluster fk.
The overall quality of the product regardless of brand is horrible.
I love my Jeep and it’s a blast to drive but it is without a doubt THE quirkiest vehicle I have ever owned, and I’ve owned my share.
From what I’ve been hearing, any Jeep Wrangler newer than 2019 is to be avoided at all costs....and that includes Gladiator.
You might have dodged a bullet. The word “Jeep” was once synonymous with rugged and reliable. No longer. Everything I read about the brand now is bad.
Consumer Reports (2025) ranks the Jeep brand 24th out of 26 car manufacturers for reliability.
Never should have been bailed out.
Agreed, and would say further that a six has always been a favorite for me. I do like the power (torque) of a V-8, but the feel and sound of a high performance six is wonderful. They can also be beautiful to look at, as with the old Jaguars, Astons, etc.
Within GM and Ford I’d like to see special one-off or limited runs of some of their iconic brands. With so much badge engineering that happens anyway - imagine going to a Chevy dealer today getting a new Pontiac Firebird Trand Am (a rebadged Cadillac CTS V)? Or going to a Ford dealer to get a new Mercury XR7 (a rebadged Mustang)?
Stellantis? Not a fan of you at all, but I’d offer this clue: The commercial starts with a scene of the winding roadway speeding by, the tachometer needle pushing to towards the redline, the muscular tone of a V8 fades and then the opening riff plays, and Nancy Wilson sings out the obvious next word….
I know this is all nostalgia BS from a kid who grew up with a lot of cool American cars and trucks. But as a gray haired adult with disposable income, would I put down some money for 2027 for a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (or Formula 350)? or an Olds 442 Cutlass? Oh. Hell. Yes.
Also wrong on the last date of the Caravan. I think it was more like 2017.
“But as a gray haired adult with disposable income, would I put down some money for 2027 for a Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (or Formula 350)? or an Olds 442 Cutlass? Oh. Hell. Yes.”
Now that I have the cash money to buy just about any vehicle I want, there aren’t any that I want.................
Chrysler has been dead for at least twenty years. Somehow, the company gets hauled out of the grave and pretends to be resurrected.
E250 and E200 models are common in Europe and Asia - it's only that Americans refuse to pay MB luxury car dollars for such ineffectual badges. :)
I believe the Charger is offered in electric or an inline six with a twin turbo as premium.
Bkmk
I have never owned a Chrysler product. Drove many Fiat products - the Alfa Guiletta is a hot little four door hatchback with a lot of get-up-and-go. But Italian autos have always had reliability issues. Is that still the case?
We owned a 75 FIAT X1/9. Beautiful car.
I spent more time under it than I did in it............
Its sad. First Plymouth and now the whole Chrysler brand including Dodge. Chrysler made a lot of the really classic sexy American cars - the Barracuda, the Viper, the Prowler, the Superbird, the GTX, the Roadrunner, the Charger etc. Even the AMC Javelin since they absorbed AMC.
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