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Category: Chrysler

  • Chrysler and Nissan announce new partnership to produce small car and pickup

    Chrysler and Nissan announce new partnership to produce small car and pickup

    2008_titan_01 Nissan and Chrysler have announced a new partnership to supply the American carmakers with small models which will be sold in South America. In exchange, Chrysler will produce a new Nissan truck model expected to be on sale by 2011.

    Both carmakers have announced a partnership which will enable the two companies to reinforce their lineup on several markets. For Chrysler, priority is given to small vehicles as part of a plan to increase its global sales at a time when its largest market entered recession. Nissan will provide small vehicles due to be sold in South America, in the US and also in Europe. The Japanese carmaker has signed a similar deal with Chrysler and will start producing 20,000 versa for South America next year. The new deal didn’t give any details about the future planned models.

    For Nissan, the new deal is good news after GM stopped negotiations over a year ago. Chrysler will build the planned Titan successor at the Saltillo Assembly Plant in Mexico. Secrecy surrounds the future pickup although some observers believe it will share its platform with Chrysler products. However it will feature a unique exterior and interior styling.

    Chrysler has already signed a deal with the Chinese carmaker Chery to sell a small model, the Dodge Breeze, in Mexico.

  • Chrysler future products

    Chrysler future products

    2007_journey_01 Chrysler’s vice president of product development has revealed more details about the future range that the troubled company plans to offer in the coming years.

    Speaking at the SAE 2008 World Congress, Frank Klegon has revealed that a hybrid-powered Dodge Ram will be available by 2010, enabling the carmaker to increase fuel efficiency. he also revealed that the carmaker is also working on a new communication system similar to that of Ford’s Sync and a blind spot detection system.

    Klegon also confirmed a dual clutch transmission will be featured on the 2009 model year Dodge Journey, Avenger and Sebring. Developed in partnership with Getrag, the  new gearbox will enable the carmaker to boost fuel efficiency on the equipped vehicles.

  • Chrysler to open a public advisory board

    Chrysler to open a public advisory board

    Chryslerecovoyagersketch1 Chrysler will start recruiting members of the public to share their ideas over the future models the carmaker plans to launch.

    The troubled carmaker has created the “Customer Advisory Board” an online forum called ChryslerListens where members of the public can give their opinions and ideas of what they want to see featured in the future models. People are not obliged to own a Chrysler model to participate, but must be over 18 years old and own a valid U.S. driving licence.

    However the company plans to limit the number of members to 5,000 in order to control the flow of future information. The company has set the ambitious plan to transform an idea into a drawing within two weeks.

    If Chrysler is the first carmaker to launch the initiative, Apple and Nike have been pioneering the concept for years. You can apply at ChryslerListens.

  • Chrysler to reduce its SUV lineup

    Chrysler to reduce its SUV lineup

    Suv_chrysler_1 In an interview given to Bloomberg, Jim Press revealed that the carmaker needs fewer SUVs.

    Chrysler president said that the company needs half of its 11 current SUV models. Three quarters of its American sales are generated by its SUV models and the carmaker wants to consolidate its brands to cut costs.

    "We’re going to stop overlapping, we’re going to bring everything under one roof. By doing that we will have more products in the markets we are not covering,” Press said. "Our finances will have better quality.”

    Chrysler has plans to reduce total models by almost a third, to about 19 from 28. The carmaker has already axed the Pacifica and PT Cruiser Convertible models.

  • Chrysler to go 100% hybrid

    Chrysler to go 100% hybrid

    Dodgezeotop Chrysler President Jim Press, former head of Toyota in the US, wants the carmaker to make a big jump into the hybrid market.

    At a recent seminar, Jim Press said that the carmaker would like to offer every future models with a hybrid solution to comply with the tougher new CAFE regulations. However, he didn’t give any timeline. As the future CAFE law promoting a fuel efficiency of 35mpg won’t enter into effect before 2020, Chrysler has still enough time to develop hybrid-powerd vehicles. Chrysler follows Toyota which expects its lineup to be only powered by hybrid solution by 2020.

    At the last Detroit Auto Show, the company unveiled three hybrid-powerd concept cars: ZEO, EcoVoyager and Renegade. The three concept cars previewed the direction taken by Chrysler for its future models.

  • Chrysler to resume production at Illinois plant

    Chrysler to resume production at Illinois plant

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    After a five-day close due to a mechanical glitch, Chrysler will restart production at the Belvidere plant in the US. The plant builds the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot models.

    The plant will cut out 1,000 jobs in March. Chrysler removed one shift as a result of poor sales and tougher times ahead for the American carmaker. Built in 1965, the Belvidere facility employs 3,400 people.

    The factory was the production hub for the Dodge Neon sold on our shores under the Chrysler badge before building the current three models all based on the same platform.

  • Chrysler to build a global platform

    Chrysler to build a global platform

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    Chrysler engineers are currently working on the next-generation platform intended to save the company by allowing to build anything with wheels on it.

    Dubbed “Project D”, the future platform will replace the current GS platform co-developed by DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi Motors. The GS platform is used for the Chrysler Sebring, the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass, the Jeep Patriot , the Dodge Avenger and the Dodge Journey. Thus, this future platform is crucial for Chrysler and the key to its success.

    The company has united a group of engineers, product planners, program managers and purchasing managers with the goal to develop a flexible platform able to feature both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive vehicles, to satisfy international regulation and to be modern enough in ten years. Indeed, Chrysler doesn’t expect the first vehicle based on the new platform to be released before five or six years.

    Source: Automotive News

  • Chrysler to outsource its seats to India

    Chrysler to outsource its seats to India

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    An Indian newspaper reported that the American car maker has signed a £52 million/$101 million contract with an Indian seat maker to build seats for the Jeep Wrangler model.

    This move is the beginning of the new strategy initiated by Chrysler in order to cut costs. The car maker plans to increase the volume of parts being built in Southeast Asia.

    We buy $40 billion worth of supplies each year. We would like to procure as much as possible from South-East Asia,” the official said in the report.
    Chrysler hasn’t said if it plans to extend the experience to other models in the future

    Source: Reuters

  • Chrysler to axe its lineup by half

    Chrysler to axe its lineup by half

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    Chrysler plans to axe half its lineup in order to consolidate brands. The company has launched the “Project Genesis” which is expected to drop duplicate models that share common underpinnings while competing on the same markets.

    In an interview with Automotive News, Chrysler Vice Chairman Jim Press also revealed that the other part of the plan was to release new models on new markets where Chrysler has never been before; however he didn’t give more details about the future models. Jim Press’s will is to solve one of the biggest problem of the car maker: similarity between brands. At a time when customers want to promote a clear image of themselves, American car maker’s brand management goes against the market trend.

    Among the models being dropped, there will be the PT Cruiser Convertible, the Chrysler Crossfire and Pacifica and the Dodge Magnum. The company also wants to reduce its number of SUV. It offers 11 different SUV models.

  • Chrysler to adopt Mercedes engines for its small Diesel cars

    Chrysler to adopt Mercedes engines for its small Diesel cars

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    In an interview with Auto,Motor und Sport magazine, Chrysler Executive Vice President – Product Development Frank O. Klegon revealed that the troubled American company will stop sourcing diesel engines from Volkswagen.

    In an attempt to consolidate its suppliers, the company won’t renew the contract which will shortly come to an end. Chrysler will source the engines to Mercedes with whom it wants to keep a close cooperation. “We will continue the good cooperation with Mercedes in the future, in the area of fuel cells, diesel engines and gasoline engine development, amongst other things. We will continue to use Mercedes’ developments in terms of electronics and advanced safety,“ he said.

    Chrysler is currently outsourcing its diesel engines from VM Motori, Mercedes and Volkswagen. VM Motori began its supply relationship with Chrysler in 1992, providing indirect injection engines for the Voyager. It produces the common-rail 2.5-litre and 2.8-litre diesel engines for the Chrysler Voyager and Grand Voyager, and the Jeep Cherokee. Mercedes provides the 3.0-litre diesel unit available on the Chrysler 300C, the Jeep Cherokee and Commander. Volkswagen supplies the lower range with the 138bhp 2.0-litre TDI engine on the Chrysler Sebring and the Jeep Compass. Last year Chrysler sourced 40,000 diesel engines from Volkswagen, around 43,000 from Mercedes and 55,000 from VM Motori.