Or at least that's what The Truth About Cars thinks. But our writer William Foster has his own take...

https://dodgeforum.com/articles/2011...dfdec11-1.html

What do you think? Does the re-branding of important vehicles make Dodge any less important?

 

No, but it does lead longtime Dodge/Chrysler folks to wonder what's in the water up in Auburn Hills-or Turin. The Viper as SRT makes sense. Killing the best selling minivan in America makes none. An over-grown Caliber called a "people mover" will be the next Aztec/Caliber and finally get a bullet to the brain after 3-5 years of bad press and terrible sells. But my biggest problem is removing the Dodge name from pickups. Look at my avatar. You know who those 2 guys are? Since I and about 2 others know, let me help: Dodge brothers. You know how they got started with Chrysler? They made pickups for W.P. So removing the Dodge name from the vehicles that STARTED Dodge Corp makes 0 sense. In the 90's Dodge had a sporty image-remember all the ads with the "Dodge Red" lineup? The trucks and minivans never hurt it in any way. This is FIAT micromanaging on a disastrous scale. It will not kill Dodge, but it certainly is a slap in the face of Dodge heritage.

 

Fiat wants Dodge because its all about the money. THat commercial for a little piece of junk that ran on T.V. with some chick going home to the hood is stupid and the price of them is stupid. THe foreigners, ( Fiat), just want to continue the fleecing that Obama has started. Chit they killed the Dakota because of sales, LOL if the Dakotas were priced where they should have been the delta on price would keep them selling.

 

Dodge vanished from Europe in 2010 because of Fiat. Very sad. The only Dodge vehicle left is the Journey as rebadged/renamed Fiat Freemont. Poor Journey with italien Fiat Emblems.

And in December 2011 they killed my beloved Nitro and the RAM head. Sergio Marchionne said that the Nitro was a huge mistake and a "knockoff" of the Jeep Liberty. If thats so, the Durango is a "knockoff" of the Jeep GC. Will Fiat kill the Durango next?

Hope they won't. In my opinion Fiat is driving Dodge into the wrong direction. What are they doing with the strong testosterone brand? Thats crazy. They should listen to their costumers.

 

Personally i think removing the dodge name before RAM was a huge mistake. Hopefully they will reinvent the dakota to compete with tacoma etc. whatever they do with the dak they should do with the durango as well. the durango was always a midsized suv based on the dak until they brought back the hemi and decided it was a good idea to upgrade the durango. they need to do some work but they need to figure out what theyre going to do before they kill the company. I like the new dart. I would buy one if i was in the market for a small car. but i think i would wait til they get the guys over at SRT department to F--k it all up and make it awesome. but they should offer a hatchback coupe (like the alfa its based on)

 

After the Obamaism last night not to worry, it all is good now cause he said so. Chevy is making big strides around here and putting people back to work. Fiat is doing the European Bull Crap, Cut the Nitro why, the liberty is a cheaper version that is what some of us could afford. Next step is they will take the Liberty up to Nitro trim and drivetrain levels, it still will be ugly and the good looking nitro wil be history. Those idiots need to look closer, the liberty is a much cheaper vehicle in base and looking at the two of them you can see it in them. THey are in europe we are here. Chrysler needs to grow some ***** and keep the Dodge name. If I wanted junk, Fiat, I would have been driving foreign all these years.

 

The Nitro was cheaper than the Liberty and it hadn't the permanent 4-wheel-drive like his Jeep twin. But I really liked the unique look of the Nitro. Inside and outside it was just what I was looking for. Very sad that Fiat killed it.

Hoping the Durango will stay. Since the 2011 model it's finally a luxury SUV with great appearance, also much better than the Jeep Grand Cherokee. The designers did a perfect job on the Durango. What a phantastic car.

But, as I wrote before. Dodge has vanished here in Europe. You can't buy any european versions, all Dodge dealers are gone and as Dodge owner it's not easy to find someone, who can get parts or for Guarantee claims.

I don't like the Fiat cars at all and the Freemont just looks as it doesn't belong to the other Fiat branded cars. Very different look. It's still a Dodge behind the silly Fiat brandings.

 

I feel very '' splitted '' in this topic.


First, WE in North America, are using 25% of all the world's crude oil production for less than 5% of the whole earth population. This has to stop in a near future. Also, WE should start to get rid of this CRUDE and modify ALL gas burning cars to a more '' GREEN '' substance like Hydrogen. IF we would have spent the whole cash that went as gun powder in Irak, WE would be running all our cars with something else, may be water for all i could think.

Second, THEY don't understand our point of view because at 2.95$/L in Paris, they obviously don't and they will not understand our CRAVE for MUSCLE cars/SUV's. Sure, they make more money per week than the average US/Canadian worker BUT every thing else is higher in proportion to this level.

Yes i LOVE my DAK a lot BUT when i compare it with my Kia RIO, the total fuel comsumption is more than 60% lower all around. YES i can't travel in back roards filled with 12'' of snow OR get out of a MUDDY back road on a saturday afternoon. ««««««««««««««««««««««It would cost the difference i saved in fuel to call CAA (AAA Equiv. in Canada) to get a tow truck and pull me out of there...it's all agreed.

Which is the best, which is the worst, i don't know AND my opinion is already biased on my SUV. It wouldn't be fair to express it here, even though i already showed you part of my point of view on this subject....but....in any event, WE in America, will never understand THEIR way of seeing things until we'll pay 3.00$/L (13.75$ US GAl.).

Ohhhh, by the way, WHY are they charging us MORE for diesel fuel compared to plain GAS??
WHY isn't there more DIESEL cars/trucks (except Big Rigs) available on OUR market ??

OOOHHHHhhhhhh (PART 2) Yes it's very SAD that they removed Dakota's from their lineup. It would be an excellent JUNIOR grabbing truck for all they would be adding SPORT items, colors and curves...


Just expressing MY thoughts...

 

You have made some good points here.

I wonder how much of that fuel is used by the government for army, navy, etc. As well as all the food and relief we provide for the world.agreed on this hydrogen works! If we look at the value of the euro and what it has done to us, or should i say what our govt. Has done to us. Most dont realize that bailout if given to the people would have given 200,000.00 to each person in the country.

Also on the low cost of our fuel compared to them, look at it this way there are a lot of people that function on what is rated as the poverty level and the price of gas hits them harder than 13.75/gallon, but they have to work, or they have to look for jobs. Im sure those folks would like to drive something that gets better mileage but it cant happen with what they have for income. I am retired on what I consider a small income but it pays the bills. I often think how lucky I am, what if this is the level I had when I had kids.

Only reason i can see diesel being more expensive is possibly it costs a lot to make the new cleaner fuel, but I dont believe that one either.

 

Here in Austria, and in Germany, fuel and diesel costs about 1.85$/L (1.40€/L). My Nitro 2.8 CRD consumes about 11L/100km. KIA is no bad company since the build the Kia Venga, Kia ceeŽd, ceeŽd SportyWagon, pro_ceeŽd and the SUV Kia Sportage here in Europe, but I really prefer american cars like my Jeep CJ7 and my Dodge Nitro.