The Chrysler got your versatility award due to flexible seating, stow and go, swivel and go, removable table, movable center console. VW got none of that. It’s identical to the Chrysler, minus the innovation, keeps the unreliability, and adds wood paneling to the dash. Is that a success?
Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * John Wilkerson, a spokesman for TRW, also said he couldn’t confirm or deny whether or not a meeting had occurred. “I haven’t heard anything one way or the other,” said Wilkerson. “All I can say is that there’s nothing new to report.” The impact of the CAW’s strike against TRW was felt almost immediately by Chrysler, which idled its minivan assembly plant on Thursday within hours of the TRW shutdown.
By Kevin Krolicki SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chrysler dealers, meeting as a group for the first time with the struggling automaker’s new management team, on Sunday expressed support for a newly unveiled plan to shrink Chrysler’s retail network and streamline its product line-up. The privately held No. 3 U.S. automaker last week outlined plans to reduce its roughly 3,600 U.S. dealerships to a much smaller number that will represent all three of its brands: Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge.
Bet that’ll make Chrysler employees feel good, eh? Personally, I’ve been underwhelmed by Chrysler vehicles designed during the Daimler-Chrysler era, vehicles like the Dodge Caliber SRT-4 , Chrysler Sebring convertible and Chrysler Sebring sedan (even if I was the only journalist who liked the latter’s interior). I had high hopes that under domestic stewardship, Chrysler could return to the strong products it introduced in the early to mid 90s.
To fill the people-mover void in its lineup, Volkswagen will add a minivan sourced from Chrysler. The VW Routan is basically a Chrysler Town & Country/Dodge Grand Caravan clone wearing unique Volkswagen design treatments in front and back. For the interior, the Routan does not get Chrysler’s heralded Sto ‘N Go seating, but instead will equip all Routans with second-row captain’s chairs.
Manufacturing Alliance (GEMA) facility in Dundee, Michigan, which produces fuel-efficient engines for Chrysler products, has been awarded the 2007-2008 Shingo Silver Medallion for operational excellence. The Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence, established in 1988, recognizes business excellence in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Faria wary of Chrysler’s one-minivan strategy Chris Vander Doelen, Windsor Star Published:”Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Tony Faria, the University of Windsor marketing professor and auto industry analyst, says he thinks it would be “a mistake” on Chrysler’s part to build only one minivan instead of two.
A federal jury returned a verdict late this afternon that Chrysler Daimler is not liable for serious injuries to a repair shop worker when a pick-up truck jumped forward and pinned him in a body shop accident several years ago at a business in the Town of Union. The injured worker, Matthew Sacco, sought damages from Chrysler Daimler in a case that was tried in Binghamton’s federal court. A co-worker of Sacco’s was killed in the same accident more than three years ago in a Westover repair shop.
Zero to 60 in the low five-seconds, 0-100 mph in under 17 seconds, 0.89g on the skidpad, and four-wheel Brembo disc brakes to match. If the performance in question did not come from a full-size, five-passenger, rear-drive American road scarfer, you would think a Corvette or Mustang GT was lurking about. But, there isn t. These numbers are from the elegantly rambunctious Chrysler 300C SRT8.
Chrysler has spent decades perfecting their minivans, a market that they helped to create in the 80’s with the Caravan and Voyager. While these vehicles have remained practical stalwarts of the people-moving scene for a very long time, there isn’t much that can be done with a minivan in order to make it particularly sexy. With the 2008 ecoVoyager, Chrysler is hoping to change that and prove that nothing is quite as attractive as ecological responsibility.