Posted on 05/06/2005 4:52:45 PM PDT by B Knotts
The Chrysler group is sitting pretty compared with General Motors and Ford Motor Co.
Chrysler is gaining sales and share in a market that's depressed. The Chrysler 300 sedan has given the Chrysler group a hot aura - and shown that it can make cars that excite U.S. consumers.
While Ford Motor and GM struggle with turnaround efforts, the Chrysler group, says COO Tom LaSorda, is "just trying to maintain the momentum. That is what we are pushing with our employees."
...
Through March, the Chrysler group's sales are up 5.6 percent to 546,732 units. In contrast, U.S. light-vehicle sales fell 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2005. At GM and Ford, sales tumbled 5.1 percent each in the period.
(Excerpt) Read more at autoweek.com ...
As far as I know, Chrysler has to deal with the same kind of UAW contracts.
The difference seems to be that Chrysler is actually making cars that people are interested in buying.
Some of their recent successes noted in the article:
The 300C sedan, the Durango SUV, their minivans with "Stow-and-Go" seating, and the diesel Jeep Liberty CRD.
I'm not a stockholder or anything...I just think GM is totally non-consumer-oriented, and they need to get with the program, but fast.
I like what Chrysler has been doing the last few years. And I love my Jeep even though it's a few years old now. There's nothing GM has been doing that really interests me, and I'm always kind of wondering why it is that they are consistently unable to come out with any vehicles I would buy.
As soon as I can afford it, I'm buying a Jeep Liberty CRD.
Haven't seen this one, is it the diesel I have been hearing about?
We've already got a Grand Cherokee. I'm waiting for the Jeep Gladiator to come out. When that hits the market Chrysler will have another big hit on it's hands.
The front end of the 300 reminds me of the mouth on Dancing Bear (Captain Kangaroo).
Yes. It has a 2.8 liter Italian turbodiesel in it, with lots of torque, and pretty good mileage for such a heavy vehicle.
I wish they could port that diesel over to the Ram 1500. I bought one with the Chrysler V6. I love the truck, but it could use more umph! Plus for a V6 the gas mileage sucks. 16/21(usually 19).
Also I think the Mercedez-Benz side of the house has had a lot of influence on the little things like interior quality. The difference between my old man's '99 1500 and my '04 is night and day.
is that the CDI diesel unit from Mercedes?
oh, I see now, its an Italian diesel.
Good post. My Dad and my ex-husband retired from Chrysler.
A very good company. We all drive Dodge products and I drive a Mercedes, which is now a sister product. I have a 2005 Dodge van and it is a joy to drive. Chrysler and Dodge have improved so much. Look for sales to continue upward.
Navistar has some V-6 diesels that would probably fit the bill, but I'm a little unsure of their reliability.
However, VM Motori, the manufacturer of the 2.8 I-4 in the Liberty also has a 3.0 liter V-6 (220 hp, 369 ft-lbs) that looks promising.
If I was buying a car right now I would buy the 400 hp GTO for under 35,000. Killer car.
The Chrysler and the 300 both have rear wheel drive, and can be purchased with their new Hemi engines.
GM in their infinite wisdon decided to stop makinf rear wheel drive cars, thus giving the cops no alternative but Ford. I expect to see a few Magnums show up with Bubble gum machines on their roofs soon.
Yes, it's an Italian division of DaimlerChrysler.
Either that, or Chargers. :-)
But, yeah, GM ran into financial problems, so what did they do? They canceled their "Zeta" RWD platform, which, IMO, was their whole future on the car side.
Still pissed cause they got rid of the Comanche.
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