2005 Chrysler Crossfire Ltd 6speed Htd Leather Only 18k Texas Direct Auto on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Is Chrysler's 'America's Import' campaign outdated or offensive? [w/poll]

Chrysler launched its America's Import campaign with a splashy ad during the Super Bowl starring Bob Dylan and featuring a whole bunch of patriotic imagery that included Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, factory employees and, of course, the city of Detroit. Since then, the brand has followed the original spot with even more ads using the same tagline. Not everyone is pleased, it seems, including The Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan, who's fed up with the marketing. In an editorial for the newspaper, Phelan claims that it's insulting to the US auto industry and its workers.
"The phrase 'America's import,' with its suggestion that 'import' equals 'better,' feels terribly dated, a relic of the 1980s. It's the rhetorical equivalent of hanging a pastel-hued 'Miami Vice' poster on your office wall," writes Phelan in the piece. Also, since some of the brand's cars are made in Canada, the line isn't even entirely true, he claims. Phelan goes on to praise the company's earlier Imported from Detroit commercials for getting the right message across and showing pride in the city.
While "America's Import" might be the tagline for Chrysler's ads, it's not the whole message. Subsequent ads keep the hard-working, patriotic imagery from the original Super Bowl spot but put a bigger emphasis on the Chrysler 200 that the commercials are meant to sell.

Jeep still working to improve Cherokee's 9-speed auto

Fiat Chrysler is hoping an upcoming software update will stem the tide of consumer complaints surrounding its nine-speed automatic transmission. Owners of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee have reported a number of problems on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's SaferCar.gov website, since the new model and its troubled gearbox arrived way back in October 2013. The software update is "intended to keep the vehicle performing as intended, and to prevent durability issues from occurring in the future," an FCA spokesperson told Automotive News, and will be available to owners of both the 2014 to 2015 Jeep Cherokee and the 2015 Chrysler 200, which also uses the 9AT. While FCA will be notifying consumers of the update, owners can also request the software reflash if they happen into their dealer before then. Despite the widely documented problems with the transmission, the only complaints on NHTSA's website relate to the 2014 Cherokee – neither the 2015 Jeep nor the 200 have received any complaints. That bodes well as FCA prepares to begin deliveries of the 2015 Jeep Renegade and launch the Fiat 500X, both of which pair the 9AT with the 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder. "We have had to do an inordinate amount of intervention on that transmission, surely beyond what any of us had forecast," FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne told Automotive News. "There are things that we have done – that we continue to do. Our proactive customer care intervention has actually increased in intensity on these vehicles in 2014, especially in the second half." What's fascinating about the 9AT's problems are that they haven't been the fault of manufacturer ZF, but have related to software that wasn't "mature" and had "teething problems," Marchionne has said previously, AN reports. With the lack of criticism for the 9AT in 2015 models and this pending software update, though, here's hoping that FCA has finally figured out its fuel-sipping gearbox. Related Video:

2015 Chrysler 200 production gets underway [w/videos]

Chrysler announced recently that it has added some 800 new jobs at its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) to support the production of its all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 sedan. Total employment at the Sterling Heights, MI plant grows to almost 2,800 with the hires, an impressive figure for a plant that was slated for closure in 2010.
Speaking to a crowd of employees and community leaders, Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne was on hand to celebrate the kick-off of 200 production last week. "We're making a big bet on its success," said Marchionne of the sedan, "we've invested nearly a billion dollars in this facility."
That billion-dollar bill has been used to construct a spanking new paint shop, install a new body shop and install "machinery, tooling and material-handling equipment" according to the Chrysler press release. The company says that SHAP now runs to nearly five million square feet of manufacturing space - loads of room for all the new employees to do their thing - and that the facility can handle multiple vehicles on two unique architectures.