http://www.leftlanenews.com/dodge-compact-wide.html

 

I hope this article is just a joke someone wanting to play a joke made. It looks an awful lot like a Ford Fiesta, only not as good looking. As much as I like the cross hair grille, not every car needs one, particularly compact cars. The non-grilled Neons looked the best. 700K units? The Ram during it's best days sold only half that amount. Compacts although a necessary segment are not that popular. Not even the most popular compacts sell that well. A badge engineered car will not sell that well. Solution: pull the Neon out of the museum, give it a competitive engine (as it did originally, but make sure this one is bulletproof in design), give it a competitive interior (something other than what the Caliber has, perhaps even the original is better than what it has), give it competitive transmission offerings (something that has real ratios preferably 6), improve the crash test ratings, improve the suspension, offer an SRT that can compete against the Evo, and you have a winner.

 

I think everyone wishes the neon would return but its highly unlikely. I think the rendering was off of a fiesta, the artist's rendering that is. I just thought it was based off the guillietta the fiat rebadge. It might be a joke but I thought Left Lane was a credible source.

 

I'll say it myself. You will probably see Plymouth revived before the Neon. Although I personally liked the Neon, the issue is that the expense to revive all of the tooling, then update everything I listed on a car that you have to sell in high volume to turn a profit due to extreme competition, when the offering as good as it was, had a reputation for being a mixed bag against competition that has been able to establish themselves justly or not for being more consistent in quality (but lacking in every other category).

As a rule of thumb, I take everything from the media with not a grain but a mountain of salt. They have all become the equivalent of Enquirer in EVERY medium. They just want to spread rumors to get your attention to sell newspapers. The ones that have no credibility are MT, C&D, Edmunds and the such with their logic of convenience. Bang for your buck matters when it is a couple thousand dollars difference, but when there is a 5 digit difference price is no object. MT's article favoring the BMW for the narrowest of margins over the Mustang is a perfect example of it (and only a professional driver was able to do better with the Bimmer while a more normal driver did better in the Mustang). I have problems with publications that get the most simple things wrong (car magazines have the worst editors ever, every issue is loaded with errors).

 

I like it for a small car. The whole idea behind the merger was for Chrysler to get small car platforms, and that car fits that bill. Is there any Dodge people who remember the Omni/Horizon and Rampage were designs Chrysler bought from Volkswagon? How about the Dodge Colt-a rebadged Mitsujunki. The Dodge Challenger/Plymouth Sapporo also Mitsujunki. The Plymouth Laser, another Mitsubishi. The Chrysler TC, a Maserati. Etc, etc, etc. Ain't nothin new about this kind of partnership and car than the partner Chrysler is using to help produce it. I hate to see the comments you guys make when FIAT starts selling 300's and Durangos in Europe badged as FIAT.

 

In my perspective, the only thing Chrysler needed was cash to invest in themselves to get their feet off the ground. Chrysler although imperfect, was building competitive products before they were strangled by Daimler. I believe they can do it again given the time and resources.

Actually, I believe it was Chrysler of Europe who developed it. The only thing from Volkswagen was the powertrain and even then there was a Chrysler powertrain as an option. The Colt never impressed me nor did the Mitsubishi "Challenger" and I never consider anything that does not at least have a Chrysler powertrain to be a Chrysler. I will acknowledge that the Laser and Talon were competitive offerings and at one point I considered getting a NA 2nd gen Talon as it had a Chrysler engine, but history proves that badge engineering does not work no matter how great the product is. I'm critical of many current models because there is nothing about them that is technically a Chrysler product at the route.

The Caliber/Compass/Patriot as an example. What exactly is Chrysler on those models? The engine is a Hyundai design. The Auto is a JATCO (Nissan). The platform is a Mitsubishi.

Take the Crossfire (the logic behind the name was a joke, how was it a Crossfire between Daimler and Chrysler when the platform and powertrain were both Mercedes). If I want a Mercedes, Hyundai, Nissan, or Mitsubishi, I will buy one of the four. I buy a Chrysler because I like Chrysler. I like American cars, not German, not Japanese, not Korean.

The TC was exactly as much a Maserati as the Crossfire was a Chrysler product. The TC was a K based platform, with a K turbo I4 (or a 3.0L Mitsubishi). The only thing that was Maserati was the fact that they modified the I4, did the styling, and slightly modified the platform. And guess what, they were both sales flops.

You are right there is nothing new about this. It's called, "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat history's failures." Badge engineering does not work.

When I see a fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, or any other badge on anything that is American, you will hear me say the exact thing I said about the Mitsubishi Raider and Volkswagen Routan. You will hear how proud I am to see a Chrysler product being sold by another brand and hope to see an expansion of it (even though I have doubts about the success of it being that it is badge engineering). As long as they do not replace my brands here, I don't care what they do in Europe. I would like to see the brands expand over there, but you can't get everything you want. If they do this, that alone will be an improvement over Daimler who was (snort) too good to consider anything from the (snort) lowly Chrysler except for the Next Gen Viper platform for their SLS and using the talent of Jeep to build a platform while they take all of the credit and forcing Chrysler to use their overpriced, lousy (W5A580 transmission) technology that produced no performance or fuel economy improvements over the Chrysler 42RLE between different years in the same models.

 

Actually Chrysler advertised the TC as 80% Maserati, but I knew it was a K car(which I love and think was brilliant) and always suspected it was nothing more than a slightly modified LeBaron. If Chrysler can turn around and get back to 2/3 the sales they were before the Daimlersh*t debacle, they will be 3x the size of FIAT(Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino BTW) and I will bet the relationship will return to that of Chrysler/Mitsu rather than like the Daimlersh*t slavemaster. There would not have been a K car or minivan without Chrysler buying the engineering from Volkswagon and Mitsujunki, as the K car was an upsized Omni/Horizon. Everything they learned to start in the front wheel drive business started with Mitsu and VW. There are still several hundred dedicated executives and engineers at Chrysler who are determined to never let another Daimlersh*t happen again. I am not happy Obama forced FIAT on Chrysler, but I like the direction they are going now. Look, the Viper is going to be saved by FIAT. How? Chrysler was going to sale/end the Viper. FIAT merged and said "Not for sale". They are keeping it mum, but Motor Trend and Autoweek both have said there is a Lambo Viper in the pipes and they are keeping it top secret. Anyone who's drove them know the Viper is aptly named, as it will strike your @ss if you push it. Getting some European driving lessons will make it that much better. I think Marchionne is a young, Italian Iaccoca. He took a run down, near-bankrupt FIAT and in 5 years made it one of the most profitable car companies in Europe. He even promised he wouldn't take Chrysler's independence. I think this is alot better than GM buying Chrysler, stripping the assets and closing the company.

 

That's actually a pretty good looking little car. Dodge styling FTW.

http://photos.leftlanenews.com/photo...t-fiat_620.jpg

 

hello guys...
thanks for sharing information....

 

Looks like a Fiat Bravo, with a Dodge face.