2015 Chrysler 200 C on 2040-cars

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Chrysler called out over lackluster Ram Runner by racer who helped develop it

Fans of off-roading and desert blasting might recall that Chrysler offers an aftermarket conversion that can turn a Ram 1500 into a road-legal desert racer, called the Ram Runner. The kit, sold through Mopar, includes some significant suspension upgrades, body tweaks and a brawnier cat-back exhaust for the truck's 5.7-liter V8.
Considering all of this, comparisons with the almighty Ford F-150 SVT Raptor are common. Among the off-road community, that makes these two a sort of Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang for people that prefer driving on dirt. In the Race-Dezert forum, the discussion as to which truck was better was proceeding as normal - Ram fans said their piece and Ford fans said theirs. Then, a man named Kent Kroeker offered up his two cents.
See, Kroeker is a Baja racer, and the man that helped develop the Ram Runner. Despite his association with the truck, though, he had some less than kind words for Chrysler and the Ram Runner.

Chrysler expecting up to 200,000 9-speed transmissions for 3 models this year

Striving for improved fuel economy, we already knew that Chrysler will begin using a nine-speed automatic transmission in some of its new products this year, but what we haven't known is that volume at which this gearbox will be used. According to Bloomberg, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has been quoted as saying that the automaker expects to sell close to 200,000 units equipped with this new transmission in 2013. Those gear-rich trannies will be spread out across three models, consisting of the redesigned Chrysler 200, the still-unnamed Jeep Liberty replacement and the Dodge Dart.
This transmission should play a pivotal role in making Chrysler vehicles more competitive in their respective segments. Just for comparison, one of the Dart's key competitors, the Toyota Corolla, still uses a four-speed automatic, and a previous report indicates that the next-generation 200 could get up to 38 miles per gallon on the highway, which is better than most non-hybrid midsize sedans on the market. Marchionne says that the new Jeep model is expected during the second quarter of this year, but there is no word as to when the new 200 or nine-speed Dart will debut, but clearly Dodge would like to have the transmission in its compact yesterday. As for that volume figure, it definitely doesn't seem out of reach since the Dart, Liberty and 200 combined for a total of more than 225,000 units in 2012.
How many more gears can we expect in future cars? Probably not many more, since the CEO of transmission-builder ZF, Stefan Sommer, previously stated that nine speeds was the "natural limit" for transmissions.

2015 Chrysler 300 looks to recapture its mojo in LA

Chrysler's 300 sedan has never been a shrinking violet, but it arguably lost a bit of swagger when its second-generation model bowed. There was no way that an evolutionary design could ever upend the automotive establishment the way the original 2005 model did, but even so, something was clearly left on the table when the 2011 model bowed.
You don't have take our word for it - Chrysler knows it, too. Reflecting back upon the second-generation model's styling today, Ralph Gilles, Chrysler's senior vice president of design is refreshingly candid, telling Autoblog, "Our previous generation of leaders didn't understand the car very well, and kind of forced this front end on us." For 2015, Gilles and Co. have worked to recapture some of the 2005 design's lightning in a bottle. In Gilles' words, the brief for the refreshed 2015 model was to "give the car the attitude it deserves... up the attitude, up the presence."
Visually, the new 300 initially appears very similar to the current car, but closer inspection and side-by-side comparisons reveal countless changes, the most noticeable being a much larger front grille (by about 30 percent), redone light fixtures and a 'Mobius-strip' lower fascia that picks up where the new 200 left off. The cabin has been upgraded, too, with a standard seven-inch display in the gauge cluster, the latest UConnect infotainment system and improved material choices.