The better part of yesterday journalists spent over 6 hours in a Chrysler press conference listening to their detailed plans for the coming 5-years. Of course most of the people there, including Ray Wert from Jalopnik, were live tweeting all the information for our viewing pleasure. We now know what will be coming out from Chrysler and can start evaluating the actions they are taking to achieve their plans. Seems the twitterverse started doing that immediately. So what exactly happened? Below I will touch on the highlights.
Ram-
Ram will no longer be known just as the full size pick-up name plate. Instead it will be known as the truck line of Chrysler vehicles. All trucks going forth in the future will be known as Ram. The brand is going to appeal to the commercial side of business.
- Dakota will be dead after 2011
- A new midsize unibody truck is under consideration to replace the Dakota in 2012
- Light duty full size pick up (current Ram) major refresh in 2012
- Heavy duty full size pick up (current Ram Heavy Duty) major refresh in 2012
- Chassis cab pick up (current Ram chassis cab) major refresh in 2012
- New large and small commercial vans from Fiat come branded as Ram’s.
Jeep-
They said Jeep is going “back to its roots”. What that means is yet to be seen.
- Small SUV based off a Fiat comes in 2013
- Current Compass gets refresh (mostly interior) for 2010
- Current Patriot gets refresh (mostly interior) for 2010
- Compass and Patriot merge into one new small CUV in 2013
- Wrangler to get major refresh 2010/2011
- Liberty gets a mild refresh in 2010 and will be replaced in 2013 with a Fiat SUV
- Commander will probably be killed off after 2010
- Brand new Grand Cherokee in 2010
2011 Grand Cherokee coming in 2010
Fiat-
- 500 coming in 2010 as coupe, convertible, and hot Abarth form
Fiat 500 Abarth
Chrysler-
Supposed to be up market and have style with class. This will remain to be seen.
- Town & Country will get a major overhaul in 2010
- Brand new 300/300C in 2010
- All new crossover coming in 2013
- Sebring will get refresh in 2010.
- Brand new Sebring in 2013. Unknown if it will retain the Sebring name.
- The PT Cruiser is finally being killed after 2010. No seriously, this time they are for real.
- Brand new compact sedan will arrive in 2012
- Brand new small car will arrive in 2013 that will come from Fiat
Dodge-
- Full size CUV arrives in 2010 most likely the next Durango based off of the new Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Grand Caravan gets major refresh in 2010 with a all new model in 2014
- Brand new Charger will arrive in 2010
- Challenger will receive a mild refresh in 2011
- Viper is being killed summer of 2010. All new Viper arrives in 2012
- Nitro gets refresh in 2011 and the future is uncertain going on from that
- Journey gets a refresh in 2010
- Avenger gets a refresh in 2010 with a all new model arriving in 2013
- Brand new compact sedan arrives in 2012
- Caliber is killed after 2012 and will receive a mild interior refresh next month
- Brand new small car arrives in 2013 based off a Fiat
Engines/Transmissions-
- Fiat 1.4 liter Multiair in Fiat 500 in 2010
- Fiat 1.4 liter Multiair turbo in Fiat 500 in 2011
- Phase out quickly all 4-speed transmissions
- Pentastar V6 debuts in new Grand Cherokee. Will spread across the line over time
- Pentastar V6 turbo/twin turbo coming in late 2010/early 2011
- Start/stop technology to debut in Jeep Wrangler diesel in late 2010
- Dual clutch transmission debuts in late 2010
- Diesel engines coming late 2010/early 2011
Ram will keep the current ram’s head as the logo. Dodge’s logo will be Dodge spelled out in black and red. Chrysler is receiving a new logo which looks very similar to the Aston Martin logo. Fiat and Jeep will retain their current logos. It has been confirmed a 6.4 liter Hemi is coming, and will have 450 hp. Also confirmed is next year the Sebring, 300, PT Cruiser, and the Town & Country will all have special editions next year before the refreshed models (or in the PT Cruisers case, dies) hit the showrooms. The PT Cruisers special edition, fittingly, will be “Final Edition”. The 300C will have a “sport” edition while the Sebring’s special edition will be known as “Ocean Edition”. The Town & Country’s special edition will be a “Fashion Edition”. Also shown were two photos of the next Dodge Charger. One photo was the new gauge cluster while the other was of the side of the car looking from the rear fender. The photo of the outside looks very similar to the 1999 Dodge Charger RT concept car. The major take aways from the announcement is that maybe Fiat did know what they were getting into and possibly, just maybe, Chrysler could turn out to be on the right course. The above is a lot to accomplish in a small amount of time so time will tell how this “plan” turns out.
2011 Dodge Charger
2011 Dodge Charger Gauge Cluster
1999 Dodge Charger RT Concept
Episode 18 starts by introducing this weeks guest, the one and only Michelle Naranjo joining us from Miss Motor Mouth. Michelle kicked us off by telling us a little about herself and how she came to be awesome. We move along to the major news of the week segment. This week included-
