"Now that Chrysler is part of Fiat, how long do you expect the company to last before mortility sets in?" on a different thread. Now while I don’t have a real clue their partnership with Daimler Benz certainly didn’t last long. I think this might be a better fit, and certainly better than the old Studebaker Packard merging. I heard that described once as; "two blind drunks trying to hold each other up in a dark alley while stumbling toward the light." That blend didn't work as a car manufacturing organization even with a Federal bailout loan from the Eisenhower administration. I think Daimler Benz still holds about 20% of Chrysler, even after their selling that majority share to Cerberus Capital Management (asking for TARP funds I think), and now it looks like FIAT will have a 35% equity interest (whatever that means) in Chrysler. Does Chrysler own any of MOPAR anymore, or do they just keep offices in Auburn Hills MI. for convenience of some sort? I don’t really know how the Iveco truck line will fit into the Chrysler offering, or vice versa, but the heavy duty and medium sized Ivecos will get Chrysler/Dodge back into the Big Rig semi-tractor trailer field at least if they can overcome a market reluctance to buy a semi from Italy. Dodge has been out of that market for years, the last one I saw was built in the late ‘60s I think and it was ugly as home-made dog sh*t. There was a silly ad in 1972 (I think) which was showing just how desperate MOPAR was getting in the Big Rig market. It was a buy one get one free ad! If you bought a new highway diesel tractor, the factory would throw in a 318 V8 D100 pickup in your choice of color! The COE Iveco might be a great market offering in the medium to heavy duty diesel truck market for Chrysler. That said I believe that the small car expertise of the FIAT group will aid the ailing Chrysler that is for sure. The best thing FIAT will get out of the deal is probably the Jeep series, but FIAT already has its own, the Massif. That however looks like more of a Land Rover heavy duty off road unit, not a yuppie urban/suburban 4x4. I don’t feel the Europeans will have any use (or very limited) for the Chrysler mini-vans. Just a guess of course, but I have been in a couple of medium sized Iveco diesels, and was impressed with them.
My take on it was that Chrysler would try and market the Fiat 500 in the US as a good gas milage car. I was thinking Americans were dumb but not that dumb. I guess they could sell some extra cheap but once they start breaking down then the market will dry up. Fiat 500 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This isn’t the old 500, in fact it looks like a pretty good little car actually, and it sports an impressive safety setup with its airbags as stuff standard. Great mileage, decent warranty, outstanding standard features, and not too bad a cruising rate of speed (if the test is any indication). If ya had some good tunes it probably wouldn’t even be any worse crossing Texas or Montana than any other small car. With a 110 mph top speed a person could still get in trouble with the law. New Chrysler Link Could Bring Fiat Cars to U.S. via Mexico And here is a "first drive" test on the little 500: First Drive: 2008 Fiat 500 If they were available at Chrysler dealers, and the service was decent then they might just let the Mopar boys into an edge of the market they haven't been in for decades. And just for fun remember that BMW partnered up with Fiat/Alfa Romeo last year, and are still part of the deal. Now, that said, it must be worked into the equation that Chrysler is closing down the plant in Mexico which was producing the Cruiser and Prowler. If that was converted to producing the 500 then they could be imported into the states through NAFTA with no duty fees and make the little buggers VERY competitive in the micro car market. Now, if they started putting this little Alfa into the Chrysler showrooms, even I might stop by and at least take a spin. The last Alfa I rode in (1980) was thrilling, but very unreliable: 2010 Alfa Romeo MiTo - Sneak Preview 2008 - Latest News, Features, and Reviews - Automobile Magazine
The fact that my sister-in-law was one of those people is a testiment to both positions. She isn't the sharpest tool in the shed, and she traded in a wonderful Camaro RS that I had found for her on that Yugoslavian piece of....! I almost quit talking to her, I did refuse to ever work on that thing, and it was towed off dead in the water after 16 months of Montana and Patty. It did NOT stand a chance.
So, let me see if I have this right. Chrysler-Dodge already makes some pretty unreliable vehicles (comparatively). Fiat (the Italian equivalent of British Leyland) buys them. What are they going to sell now? A great looking version of the Yugo that won't make 20,000 miles before it is a smoking pile of .......?
I quite like the old one, maybe part of that is the fact my dad had one which he could drive through the back (pedestrian) gate into my grandparents garden and then drive around the lawn, hell, if we had put a ramp in it would have gone through the front door!
The black and white Fiat looks good until some redneck in a SUV runs over it. I would divorce your sister in law for getting a Yugo as opposed to a Camaro RS. Why did'nt you brother do something to stop her ?????????
Of course I couldn't divorce my sister-in-law, and I was presented with the Yugo decision as a "fait accompli". That was when I stopped telling her I would always make her car "run". That was the second time she had disappointed me. First I had found this really great used Audi "Fox" for her to buy, it was super quick, and a great car. She let her "boy-friend" take it and he drove it from Harlowtown to Eddies' Corner in Montana (88 miles) in fourth gear. Never shifting into fifth, but loving the response which kept the engine running at about 5,000 rpms. He was so surprised when it seiezed up, never checking the oil, never checking the water temp. That was the first time. Then I found her the Camaro RS from a private source, rebuilt and sold the Audi Fox, and made the RS 350 automatic just exellent as a normal crusier. Not fast, not quick, but reliable and long-legged. The next boy-friend started selling body parts off the Camaro!, and when that got to the point I couldn't help anymore, she traded it in on that stinker (Yugo). She actually thought she had done a "good thing"; and in retrospect perhaps she did. Who wants to screw up a Yugo, they come that way! Who want parts off a Yugo? NOBODY! Later I found her a nice little Blazer (S-10) version with the 2.8 V6, and she still drives it to this day.
