2014 Chrysler Town & Country Touring on 2040-cars

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Chrysler and Hyundai join Pepsi and Coke as top Super Bowl spenders [w/ video]

Super Bowl XLVIII is barely a week away, and some of the early ads are already leaking out. It's timely then that The Street has released rankings of the top five Super Bowl advertisers since 2009, showing Chrysler and Hyundai/Kia taking two of the spots with $131.7 million in cumulative spending.
Since 2010, the cost to air a 30-second Super Bowl ad has risen from $3 million in 2009 to about $4 million in 2014, and about a fifth of advertisers opt for a one-minute ad, which doubles costs. Last year, the ads brought in $292 million, and they have brought in roughly $2 billion since 2010.
Chrysler has spent $64.3 million since 2009 to make it the fourth highest spending company in the last five years. In that time, the company has rebranded itself as it emerged from bankruptcy with the Imported from Detroit ad campaign that premiered in 2011 and last year's God Made a Farmer Ram Trucks ad. Its 2012 Halftime in America sparked national debate about whether it was also a reference to the upcoming presidential election.

Ford Mustang was almost 'Imported from Detroit'

The Ford Mustang achieved iconic status nearly the moment the sheet came off at the 1964 World's Fair. And if Henry Ford II wasn't getting divorced around that time, the pony car might have been called the Torino and been marketed as 'Imported from Detroit,' according to Automotive News. We'll explain. During research for the new book Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, author David Maraniss found an interesting connection between Chrysler's (now FCA US) slogan and the Ford Mustang. Before the pony car even had a name, the Blue Oval's advertising agency had the idea to market it as a "brand new import ... from Detroit," according to Automotive News. The vehicle would be sold as "inspired by Italy's great road cars, but straight from Detroit." The name Torino was suggested, as well. However, the real world interfered in making the Mustang Detroit's first import. According to the author, Henry Ford II was getting a divorce, and his future wife was Italian. It was therefore thought to be a bad idea to sell the future pony car as being from Italy. Things clearly changed by the time the Torino hit the streets years later. Related Video:

Why Chrysler made the Pacifica Hybrid

There were a number of important details missing from Chrysler's debut of the Pacifica Hybrid yesterday. Pricing and availability, for example. We still don't know those specifics – Chrysler just says it will all be announced closer to launch – but we spent some time with Kevin Mets, the chief engineer for the Pacifica Hybrid, to learn more about the powertrain and why Chrysler decided to offer this vehicle at this time. "This could be a primary electric vehicle for someone." We started with the big question: why build a plug-in minivan at all? "It brings the ability that if you want an electric vehicle, a hybrid, you don't have to compromise size to get there," Mets said. "For instance just a few minutes ago I was talking to someone from Canada and they were saying in the US it's two vehicles per household is kind of the norm. In Canada it's not that way, it's more like a vehicle or even less than a vehicle. There's a lot of people that want an electrical vehicle in Canada but they can't make it their primary vehicle. This is a vehicle that could be a primary electric vehicle for someone in Canada, or anybody else for that matter, who wants a plug-in vehicle, an electric vehicle that doesn't have to compromise in size." So, was the development of the Pacifica PHEV influenced more by customers saying they wanted a plug-in hybrid minivan or was it driven more by green vehicle regulations? "That's a tough one to answer," Mets said. "Certainly you have to meet all the requirements. There's a little bit of everything there. You also can pick what vehicles you want to do it on. You pick which vehicle is the best opportunity and this is the one we chose. It's a little bit of both." As for when the Pacifica Hybrid will reach dealerships, all we know is, "late 2016." But Mets said that the minivan will at some point be available in all 50 states. Initial availability might be limited to places like California, but, "The idea is to sell it nationwide," he said. Chrysler decided on the "Pacifica Hybrid" name instead of the more-accurate "Pacifica Plug-In Hybrid" for simplicity. Anyone who might care that the minivan plugs in will find out that it, indeed, has a plug, the reasoning goes, but when Chrysler talks to the average mass market shopper, "hybrid" tells them everything they need to know. Under the hood (and the floorboards, where the batteries are) there are a lot of new bits.