No More US-Made Cars For FCA

FCA U.S. Plants Will Soon Be All Trucks And SUVs
No Takers for Dart, 200 Make Company More Dependent on Light Trucks Than Ever

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Today, the term “SUV” encompasses a much broader array of vehicles than a decade ago. Many are now small, car-based, and nearly as fuel efficient as conventional passenger cars. Hummer, the brand that environmental activists loved to hate, is out of business, and brands such as Jeep and Land Rover are enjoying some of the best business in their history. It’s in this setting that Sergio Marchionne’s controversial but pragmatic decision to go all-in on trucks and SUVs make sense. With the discontinuation of the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, all of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ U.S. factories will soon be dedicated to truck and SUV production, with not a single conventional passenger car produced in the U.S., the Detroit Free Press reports. FCA had hoped to find another manufacturer for the sedans, but found no takers.

The remaining FCA passenger cars, the LX-chassis Dodge Charger, Dodge Challenger, and Chrysler 300, are built in Canada, as is the Chrysler Pacifica minivan. The Fiat 500 subcompact is built in Mexico. The Belvidere, Illinois, plant that built the Dart will soon change over to build the Jeep Cherokee, and the Sterling Heights plant that built the Chrysler 200 will transition to building the next-generation Ram 1500 in 2018. The forthcoming replacement for the Jeep Compass and Patriot is expected to be built in Mexico.

Truck Trend

Yikes

Related news, today Ford dropped 8% on bad earnings numbers and a poor forward projection. Issues include higher sales incentives, slower sales in China, and the slow down in Europe. I can't remember how well the new F150 sales were going.

Diseasel wrote:

Related news, today Ford dropped 8% on bad earnings numbers and a poor forward projection. Issues include higher sales incentives, slower sales in China, and the slow down in Europe. I can't remember how well the new F150 sales were going.

Sales numbers for the month will be out in a couple days or so.

Fiat is a disaster. Jeep needs to trim some of their crap offerings too. The Compass, for example, is a towering example of what not to build, ever.

The only way a Fiat sells in America is to slap a Jeep badge on it and call it a Renegade, which is another abortion in itself. If it weren't for the Ram and the Wrangler, Fiat would already be done.

The entire Chrysler line is wholly forgettable. 75% of the Jeep line is, the Challenger is the only Dodge with any interest.

Ram
Wrangler
Grand Cherokee
Challenger

That's it for the entire company.

I wonder what FCA will look like in 5 years. Much smaller company with only RAM and Jeep? Bought/merged with another company? Asking for money from governments?

To Ram, Wrangler, Cherokee and Challenger, I would add Charger. What do you get from GM, Ford or Toyota?
GM, Silverado/Seirra, Camero, Corvette
Ford, F series, Mustang
Toyota, Tacoma
Am I missing something? Based on the competition, FCA is set for a bright future.

In May there were 3 Fords and 2 GM cars in the top 20 cars sold. Not a FCA product on the list.

If you look at the top 30 vehicles, 5 Fords, 5 GM and 4 FCA(1 Ram and 3 Jeep). The big 2 each have 2 cars on the list along with the obvious trucks and suv's. By putting all the eggs in 1 basket FCA is doing what started round 1 (or 2 or 3 or whatever) of their collapse. To a lesser extent, Ford and GM as well.

Around here Ford is doing well with the Fusion and the Focus RS sold out and not all orders for this years models were filled before the plant was closed for European holidays and routine maintenance.

To my eyes the Fusion is the best looking car out there. YMMV. These platforms were worth whatever money they lost on Volvo and Aston Martin. However Jaguar and Land Rover is another story.

The Fusion's grill was stolen right from the Aston Martin parts bin in my opinion, and that's not a bad thing. It is a good looking car. The Taurus looks ok too. As do GM's Impala and Malibu. The Charger, although a lot of purists still curse the extra two doors, is still a beast in its own right. And all of the Big 3 have decent pony cars. Ford and GM both have good offerings for sub compacts as well. In summary, in my opinion of course, the Big 3 are holding their own on the car front. Yes, the Asians are outdoing them in overall sales, but they are still there.

ggbaird wrote:

The Fusion's grill was stolen right from the Aston Martin parts bin in my opinion,

I have thought the same thing for years. I figure the only reason Ford hasn't been sued is that they owned Aston Martin so they have been able to keep some sort of right to designs. But who knows...

FCA still makes a good mini-van too.
The new Pacifica sounds promising. In fact my brothers first non-GM vehicle is going to be a 2017 Pacifica because GM doesn't want to play in that arena. He still has an AWD Equinox as well.