Chrysler names new small car Dodge Dart

pioneer press ^ | 12-6-11 | wsj

[WOBBLY BOB]

Chrysler Group LLC confirmed today that its new small car, the first vehicle to feature Fiat SpA (F.MI) technology, will be called the Dodge Dart.

The car, in production at the automaker's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., will be featured in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

With this vehicle, Chrysler will have a small-car offering in its portfolio for the first time in more than a decade. The car also will allow majority stakeholder Fiat to raise its stake in Chrysler by 5 percentage points to 58.3 percent once it is certified by the U.S. government as delivering 30 miles per gallon.

The car will be built on the underpinnings adapted from Fiat's Alfa Romeo Giulietta. A price wasn't disclosed.

[BuddaBudd]

sounds niiiiice

[WOBBLY BOB]

Dodge shipped 383-spec Darts (minus powertrain) along with factory-prepped 440 engines to Hurst-Campbell, Inc., a Michigan aftermarket company. Hurst-Campbell did the conversion, Dodge reps inspected it, and the cars were forwarded to Grand Spaulding Auto Sales in Chicago, a performance-oriented Dodge dealer. These cars got vehicle identification numbers but were not covered by the factory warranty.

[freekitty]

I thought there already was a dodge dart in the past.

[Ann Archy]

How ORIGINAL!!!

[The KG9 Kid]

They better shoehorn the Hemi in it.

[steve8714]

My dream car is a 1965 Dart GT convertible, cream/black/red with the 273 or 318 and a Hurst 4 speed.

[frithguild]

There’s a car in that picture?

Yes, a car and a clotheshanger in need of a cheeseburger.

[Ancesthntr]

They better shoehorn the Hemi in it.

Yeah, do that. Step on the gas and the torque will be so high that the engine will fly out the front end. :>)

[Dr. Sivana]

I have owned half a dozen Darts, all daily drivers, only giving up the habit when I moved to the rust belt, and excessive road salt caused the collapse of two (torsion bar holders, and rear differential).

This is a very sad day for me. The "man-sized compact" '66 (from original literature) seated six and was roomier than the Buick Century I now use as my daily driver. That car was the centerpiece of my '66 campaign for State Rep.

I feared this day would come. This will be as bad as the recent movie version of The Scarlet Letter.

[RegulatorCountry]

Alfa Romeo has some very nice looking vehicles these days, none imported to the US but that is likely to change.

Despite the sort of jarring notion of basing a Dodge Dart on an Alfa, it’ll probably work if the reliability and build quality are there.

Given the two parties involved, Fiat and Chrysler, that will be the big question.

[Dr. Sivana]

Argh! And this abomination is going to be manufatured 15 minutes from my house!

[WOBBLY BOB]

FIAT- fix it again , Tony.

at least used to be...we’ll see. it looks like a mazda or just about every other car.

[Dr. Sivana]

Chrysler said the Dart, to be formally introduced in January at the Detroit auto show, will come with three four-cylinder engines

Well, if it comes with three engines, that might not be so bad. How do they sync them up with the cam shaft?

[M1903A1]

To quote Wes Harrison: “I’ll take the blonde...she won’t wear out as quick as the car!!”

[WOBBLY BOB]

carefully check the specs on the rotary girder!

[WOBBLY BOB]

Same in MN . Mine just rusted away.

[WOBBLY BOB]

Same in MN . Mine just rusted away.

[SVTCobra03]

That thing got a hemi?

[Wu]

Now that’s a Dart!!!

[Kandy Atz]

I’m not surprised by all the positive remarks about the Dart. I drove my Father’s Dart to school 4 out of five days a week - he was in a car pool. It had a nasty habit of shutting down on me when the engine was cold. And it also liked to keep running after I turned it off - is that called dieseling? It was all silver and looked like a 3 year old had designed the outside - just a boxy, no frills 4 door design that was common during the late 70s.

Once it got warmed up, it ran OK. I bought a 200SX my Senior year in HS and was so glad to leave the Dart at home. I believe Dad’s was a 76? and he kept driving that bad boy for short trips into the 90s when I finally convinced him to reduce and upgrade his fleet after my Mother’s death.