2007 Chrysler Sebring Sedan 4-door 2.7l Flexfuel V6 on 2040-cars

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FCA seeks partner to keep building Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200

Mere weeks after FCA announced it was shutting down production of the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200, new hope emerges to give the sedans a stay of execution. Speaking at the Geneva Motor Show last week, Sergio Marchionne said that the company was looking for a partner "who is better at it than we are and who has got capacity available" in order to continue building the models on its behalf. "There are discussions going on now," said Marchionne, according to Motor Trend. "I think we will find a solution. We continue to talk. It's both a technical solution and an economic one. We need to find a solution that works economically." Contracting vehicles to be manufactured offsite is more common practice among European automakers than it is with American ones. Chrysler's former patron Mercedes, for example, has the G-Class built for it by Magna Steyr in Austria, the A-Class by Valmet in Finland, and the R-Class by AM General in Indiana (even though it's no longer sold in the US). This arrangement would, on the surface at least, appear more similar to the deal that Toyota struck with Mazda to build the Scion iA, drawing on the contractor's expertise and capacity to build the small sedan on the client company's behalf. Only rather than basing a new model on one of the partner's existing ones, this deal would ostensibly continue building FCA models on FCA platforms using FCA components. We'll have to wait to find out with whom FCA strikes up the manufacturing deal, but we wouldn't be surprised to see Marchionne turn to a partner he already knows. The company is, after all, at the center of an intricate web of joint ventures and manufacturing contracts. The Fiat 124 Spider, for example, is built by Mazda. The Fiat Sedici that preceded the 500X was built by Suzuki. Models like the Dodge Stealth and Eagle Talon were built in Illinois at the Diamond-Star Motors joint venture before Mitsubishi took it over altogether. And Dodge continued selling the Mercedes-made Sprinter long after DaimlerChrysler split. The Ram ProMaster, though built by FCA in Mexico for the North American market, stems from a partnership in France with PSA Peugeot Citroen. And the ProMaster City is built in a joint-venture plant in Turkey, from which it's also sold by GM as an Opel in Europe and a Vauxhall in the UK. With all those deals coming and going, after all, what would one more add to the complexity?

Vans aren't glamorous, but they're key to EU blessing FCA-PSA merger

MILAN/PARIS — Their silhouettes don't stir dreams of adventure like a sports car or trendy SUV, but vans are a rare source of profit for European carmakers, which is why EU regulators are focused on them as they decide whether to back an industry mega-merger. European competition regulators are worried that Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA's proposed merger may harm competition in small vans. With a total of 755,000 vans sold last year in Europe, the combined Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and PSA would get a market share of around 34%, based on industry data, more than double that of Renault and Ford, with shares around 16% each. Volkswagen and Daimler follow with market shares of 12% and 10% respectively. "Commercial vans are important for individuals, SMEs and large companies when it comes to delivering goods or providing services to customers," European Union competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement, announcing an in-depth investigation into the proposed merger. "They are a growing market and increasingly important in a digital economy where private consumers rely more than ever on delivery services." Dario Duse, a managing director at consultancy firm AlixPartners, said demand for vans was not based on people's disposable income, as for cars, but rather on GDP and industrial trends, and in particular the logistics industry, where big players such as Amazon or DHL operate. "Logistics is a business segment which is having a significant growth, for several reasons including e-commerce, where you need efficient and agile vans for interurban and city deliveries," he said. "LCVs (light commercial vehicles) may recover faster than passengers cars in the post-COVID-19 phase." Sales of vans up to 3.5 tonnes in Europe amounted to 2.2 millions vehicles last year, compared to 15.8 million for passenger cars, according to data provided by the European Auto Industry Association (ACEA). The light commercial vehicles (LCVs) market may be secondary in terms of volumes, but it remains highly profitable in an industry where margins are constantly under pressure. Margins are generally higher than on passenger cars, up to 5-10 additional percentage points, AlixPartners says. "With LCVs you don't have to fulfill a series of consumer expectations that drive additional complexity and costs, such as for interiors. LCV customers are more rational and business driven," Duse said. And while electrification in heavy trucks is complicated, it might come sooner for LCVs.

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Chrysler LeBaron Mark Cross Town & Country Convertible

When Lee Iacocca took the helm at the Chrysler Corporation in 1978, the company appeared to be doomed. The company's only modern front-wheel-drive cars either came from Japan or had been developed from Chrysler Europe's Simca operation, inflation was raging, and Middle Eastern conflict a year later sent fuel prices skyrocketing for the second time in the decade. Iacocca secured government loans to keep the company afloat until vehicles based on a brand-new front-drive platform could reach showrooms. Those were the K-Cars, debuting in the 1981 model year, and they saved Chrysler. The LeBaron was the ritziest of the early Ks, and today's Junkyard Gem is an example of the most prestigious LeBaron of 1983, found in a Colorado car graveyard last summer. The cheapest possible 1983 K-Cars were the two-door Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries, priced at $6,577 (about $19,959 in 2023 dollars). The 1983 LeBaron Mark Cross Town & Country convertible had an MSRP of way more than twice as much: $15,595, which comes to around $47,327 today. The LeBaron name came from a coachbuilder that Chrysler eventually devoured, and it was applied to the most glamorous Imperial models for decades. The LeBaron didn't become a model name in its own right until the 1977 model year, when a thick coat of bling was slathered onto the midsize Dodge Diplomat. That generation of Chrysler LeBaron stayed in production through the 1981 model year. The Town & Country name goes way back in Chrysler history, too. The very first Town & Country was a woodie wagon—with real wood— that first appeared as a 1941 model. Over the decades that followed, the T&C name was applied to sedans, coupes, wagons and convertibles, some with wood (or "wood") trim and some without, with only wagons getting that designation from 1969 through 1982. Beginning in 1990, the Chrysler Town & Country name went on minivans, and that's where it remained through 2016. The paneling on this car is plastic, but it was more convincing (when new) than most of the fake wood found on Detroit cars of the era. Convertibles made a big comeback for American car companies during the early 1980s, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth over "the last convertible" 1976 Cadillac Eldorado (it wasn't the last convertible you could buy new here, even at the time). The LeBaron convertible went on sale for the 1982 model year, and new drop-top LeBarons remained available all the way through 1995.