How long until Fiat Chrysler drop out of the compact and sedan market?

drypowder

drypowder

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Given that Ford has already thrown in the towel and more or less acknowledged that they cannot compete with the Japanese, Koreans and Germans in the compact and sedan markets and are narrowing their passenger car fleet to the Mustang and Active, how long until Fiat Chrysler does the same thing?

And since the Chrysler brand is already down to the 300 and Pacifica, and the 300 is probably going to get killed, why keep a brand around for one vehicle? Maybe rebrand the Pacifica as a Jeep and drop the Chrysler brand altogether.

As for Dodge, it's mostly out of the compact and sedan markets already and are down to just the Challenger, Charger and minivans and SUVs. Not sure if they make any money on the Charger and Challenger, but maybe they'll keep them around for marketing.

I think it's just a matter of time until FC follows Ford more explicitly and makes it clear that their focus is on the Jeep and Ram brands. That would leave Chevrolet as the last American (not that FC is American anyway) holdout in the compact and sedan markets, and they seem to be going all in on electric and are way further down that path than Ford or Chrysler.
 
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I have been waiting over 30 years for any American car maker to produce a car that can compete with the japanese and Koreans and I am still waiting. When I drop 25-30 grand on a car I don't expect to be paying out money for repairs for at least 4-5 years. This ends up happening way to much on American made vehicles.
I have a 2013 Honda CRV with 141,000 miles on it and zero dollars spent on non-routine items like tires and oil changes. I also have a 2016 Subaru Forester with the same story.
Last two cars I had were both subaru's and had a combined 400,000 miles, never left me on the side of the road, both over 12 years old and prob only cost me 4,000 in non- routine maintnience.
Chevy,Ford & Dodge, when you gonna learn how to make a car last?
 
I think FCA will focus on Jeep and Ram, kill Chrysler, and only have vans and sedans under the Dodge brand. As long as people are power hungry, Dodge will continue to make the Charger/Challenger, though both are WELL over due for a redesign.

Don't forget that Dodge stole a huge chunk of Ford's once cushy Police fleet market share and has been holding strong.
 
Jerzsubbie said:
I think FCA will focus on Jeep and Ram, kill Chrysler, and only have vans and sedans under the Dodge brand. As long as people are power hungry, Dodge will continue to make the Charger/Challenger, though both are WELL over due for a redesign.

Don't forget that Dodge stole a huge chunk of Ford's once cushy Police fleet market share and has been holding strong.
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Get rid of CAFE. Let the American companies do what they do best, Pickup trucks, SUVs and muscle cars, an not waste resources on small cars we don't want from them.
Ford's answer to the Charger is the V6 Turbo version of the Fusion they call the Interceptor. They have an interceptor version of the Explorer too.
The Fird was quicker to 100MPH by some fraction of a second than the Police Charger.
I'd like to see the 'Cuda come back. Maybe the Javelin.
Of the muscle car coupes, the Challenger is the most comfortable on long rides due to 4 wheel independent suspension.
Challenger and Mustang GT are on my short list for next vehicle. But so is another Jeep Wrangler. Or if the Jeep Pickup is out and not priced for yuppies that will never go off road.
 
Amps 13 said:
I have been waiting over 30 years for any American car maker to produce a car that can compete with the japanese and Koreans and I am still waiting. When I drop 25-30 grand on a car I don't expect to be paying out money for repairs for at least 4-5 years. This ends up happening way to much on American made vehicles.
I have a 2013 Honda CRV with 141,000 miles on it and zero dollars spent on non-routine items like tires and oil changes. I also have a 2016 Subaru Forester with the same story.
Last two cars I had were both subaru's and had a combined 400,000 miles, never left me on the side of the road, both over 12 years old and prob only cost me 4,000 in non- routine maintnience.
Chevy,Ford & Dodge, when you gonna learn how to make a car last?
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Actually they do. I don't know about other brands, but over in Europe Ford has a bunch of compact and sub-compact fuel efficient models that aren't available here. I saw little Fords everywhere over there and according to some of the folks over there, they are some of the most popular cars there.
 
phideux said:
Actually they do. I don't know about other brands, but over in Europe Ford has a bunch of compact and sub-compact fuel efficient models that aren't available here. I saw little Fords everywhere over there and according to some of the folks over there, they are some of the most popular cars there.
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The german company I worked with traded in there BMWs for fords. BMW is by far more expensive to own than a ford. I like ford and have only ever owned one bad one, I think its problem was a jasper transmission.

I've only owned two mopars, they were jeeps and I liked them as well.

I was told Fiat was going to keep jeep as American as possible. I think they know better than to mess with it to much.
 
vp9c said:
When will they put IFS on the wrangler?
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I'm beginning to think y'all make up acronyms. GoogleFu yields:
IFS Software
IFS Therapy
Microsoft IFS software
Introductory Flight Screening
Institute of Forensic Sciences
International Featured Standards
International Financial Services
Institute for Fiscal Studies

Amps 13 said:
I have been waiting over 30 years for any American car maker to produce a car that can compete with the Koreans and I am still waiting.
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Have the Koreans been competing in the US market for that long?
 
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fishgutzy said:
Get rid of CAFE. Let the American companies do what they do best, Pickup trucks, SUVs and muscle cars, an not waste resources on small cars we don't want from them.
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It's not so much that American companies do pickups and SUVs best, it's that the Asians don't do much of it. The only reason Americans don't want compact cars and sedans from GM, Ford and Chrysler is because those cars mostly suck compared to the competition.

Americans are still buying compacts and sedans, but we're mostly buying them from the Asian manufacturers: https://www.statista.com/statistics/276419/best-selling-cars-in-the-united-states/

Everyone here is familiar with the durability and customer satisfaction consumers have with the Tacoma, Tundra and 4Runner. Imagine instead of just Toyota and Nissan in the truck and truck-based SUV market, you also had Honda, Subaru, Mazda, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai. That would make life very difficult for GM, Ford and FCA.
 
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Pink_Vapor said:
I'm beginning to think y'all make up acronyms. GoogleFu yields:
IFS Software
IFS Therapy
Microsoft IFS software
Introductory Flight Screening
Institute of Forensic Sciences
International Featured Standards
International Financial Services
Institute for Fiscal Studies


Have the Koreans been competing in the US market for that long?
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Haha IFS = independent front suspension. Wranglers have solid front axles which are much preferred for off roading due to their strength.
 
Amps 13 said:
I have been waiting over 30 years for any American car maker to produce a car that can compete with the japanese and Koreans and I am still waiting. When I drop 25-30 grand on a car I don't expect to be paying out money for repairs for at least 4-5 years. This ends up happening way to much on American made vehicles.
I have a 2013 Honda CRV with 141,000 miles on it and zero dollars spent on non-routine items like tires and oil changes. I also have a 2016 Subaru Forester with the same story.
Last two cars I had were both subaru's and had a combined 400,000 miles, never left me on the side of the road, both over 12 years old and prob only cost me 4,000 in non- routine maintnience.
Chevy,Ford & Dodge, when you gonna learn how to make a car last?
Click to expand...

I have had similar experiences with domestics. Currently my three Ford's are collectively over 600K miles.
 
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drypowder said:
Look at resale values to get a bigger picture of reliability. Domestic and German compact/sedan resale values are considerably lower than the Asians, especially Toyota and Honda.
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I don't doubt reliability can play a part in resale value. Toyota and Honda have definitely built a name for themselves in the car business. I don't think Asian cars are bad cars by any means, I just don't think they are the only name in the reliability game, and that is based on my experience.
 
I just realized I am confused about this...
I thought they had to build and sell the compacts, at a loss if necessary, just to keep their average fuel economy stats high enough to avoid extra taxes or penalties.
Did those laws change? I can't imagine that F150s, Mustangs, and Explorers are going to average out very well.
 
BatteryOaksBilly said:
They were truly disposable vehicles when they came here. As was Kia until Hyundai took over.
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Kia and Hyundai are both car makers that originated in South Korea, and as a result of Kia's bankruptcy in 2007.
Hyundai now owns a part of their company. Many of the comparable models of each car maker share the exact same body structure as a result.
 
I wish they would stop using corn for ethanol, makes all snack chips expensive as well as fuel,
better choices to use purple sweet potato, two crops one early and one late, machine harvested,
underground and not vulnerable to weather and drought like corn is.
Would be nice to see all the vacant tobacco farm land growing purple sweet potato for ethanol.
 
Button Pusher said:
I wish they would stop using corn for ethanol
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I read a while back that if every kernel of corn in America was used for vehicle fueling it would only provide less than 20% of what is needed. Ethanol in gas is another way to prop up Big Farma.
 
I think these things are all over the place. I got my info from Motor Trend when the 18s came out. They always give the specs and a 5 year out return for every new vehicle. In that the closest thing was a Toyota truck of some kind. The Wrangler was 71% and the Toyota was 60% and the next closest was in the high 40s. I don't dispute the KBB, I was just using the Motor Trend figures. I take all the major car books. I love to keep up as best I can. I buy lotsa vehicles, I love them!
 
The Jeep dealer here is my friend. I don't use that word much. He says the Jeep market now is the Harley Davidson owners from a few years ago. Notice I said owners not riders. The owners want what's new. Right now Jeeps are HOT. Jeep is smart enough to push the Jeep Lifestyle marketing. I can tell you having bought several, they ain't much wiggle room in the price. When I see trucks and cars on lots with 10K discount, you will never see that on a Jeep lot.
 
As long as the keep from screwing up the Hellcat and Demon......
 
Fred said:
Cars and "light trucks" which includes SUVs, pickups, vans etc which is are different categories under CAFE standards with different targets and different fleet averages. Fuel economy for CAFE is based on the wheelbase * the track width of a car and category.

Also Ford's fleet averages weren't affected that much by their cars. The Fiesta was less than two percent of USA sales.
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Interesting. If it hasn’t changed, I wonder why it used to be such a big deal.
 
Direct fuel injection, ECO engines, 24V V6, etc all help to keep the fuel economy higher then in the past.
 
JimP42 said:
I can't imagine that F150s, Mustangs, and Explorers are going to average out very well.
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Mileage on cars and trucks is pretty impressive these days. Back in 2011 the V6 Mustang was the the first production car to hit 300 horsepower and 30 miles per gallon.
 
Fred said:
Also Ford's fleet averages weren't affected that much by their cars. The Fiesta was less than two percent of USA sales.
Click to expand...

Which really shows the difference in markets between here and home, because the Fiesta was one of, if not the best seller back home.
 
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