Chrysler Sells Out To Fiat

[Arthur Dent]

Bet the UAW are crapping themselves right about now.

Fiat reaches $4.35 billion deal to buy rest of Chrysler | The Detroit News

You do realize Fiat is buying the remaining share of Chrysler FROM the UAW?

 

[mrjarrell]

You do realize Fiat is buying the remaining share of Chrysler FROM the UAW?

Doesn't matter who they're buying them from. This sets the stage to move the company to a better business climate and dump the UAW, just as other manufacturers have done.

 

[Mad Macs]

I just test drove the new Cherokee and was blown away by the features and the automobile itself. Very solid handling and the 4wd was very good on US-40 with all the snow/ice all over the road. I liked it so much I'm buying one next week. The look isn't bad, but it's not as cool as my Charger. I really like the panoramic moonroof and the features of the new Head Unit.

 

[MiNDRiVE]

I just test drove the new Cherokee and was blown away by the features and the automobile itself. Very solid handling and the 4wd was very good on US-40 with all the snow/ice all over the road. I liked it so much I'm buying one next week. The look isn't bad, but it's not as cool as my Charger. I really like the panoramic moonroof and the features of the new Head Unit.

The only thing i don't dig about the new cherokee is the front end design. it looks a little spacey for me. but other than that its a solid suv.

 

[glockednlocked]

If I am feeling super patriotic I will buy a Toyota made in Indiana or a BMW made in South Carolina supporting union slugs that support libs really does not interest me.

 

[atvdave]

If I am feeling super patriotic I will buy a Toyota made in Indiana or a BMW made in South Carolina supporting union slugs that support libs really does not interest me.

Thank you, my born in the USA American son works there. And I think my Tundra (made in San Antonio, TX) is the best damn truck I have ever owned in my 35 years on the road.

 

[Johnny C]

i agree. This thing will take some getting used to.

Is it just me, or all all the mid-sized SUVs starting to look pretty much the same?

 

[Arthur Dent]

I just test drove the new Cherokee and was blown away by the features and the automobile itself. Very solid handling and the 4wd was very good on US-40 with all the snow/ice all over the road. I liked it so much I'm buying one next week. The look isn't bad, but it's not as cool as my Charger. I really like the panoramic moonroof and the features of the new Head Unit.

You might want to wait a couple months, at least. They are suffering some teething problems.

 

[Redtbird]

My Chrysler product. Part Detroit work, part mine.

 

[Mad Macs]

You might want to wait a couple months, at least. They are suffering some teething problems.

Yeah, I've noticed the 2014 JGC, JC, and Ram all have issues with the new head units. BAD issues. Might end up with another Charger with AWD this time.

 

[Manatee]

 

[Leadeye]

A toast to Bill Hickman, best stunt driver ever, driving the 68 Charger in one of the best car chases ever.

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

I saw one of the new Cherokees on Fry Red this afternoon. I hate to say it, but it looks a lot better driving down the road / in person than it does in the media pics.

 

[Denny347]

Isn't it irony that the german brand that is the proudest of their "quality" buys Bob Eatons soul, he GIVES them Chrysler, who was a profitable car company with 20 quarters of quality awards, and turns them into junk while stripping all the cash out of America.

Total man hours of labor for an average Chrysler car was about 40 hours. That is done, turn the key and drive it home. The germans made the Chrysler employees watch a film about how it takes 36 man hours to manufacture a STEERING WHEEL for the flagship Benz. Their pencil necked geeks redesigned the quality back out of the Chrysler cars. Their purchasing people bragged they "disqualified" 240 American vendors for refusing to drop prices. The disquailfied parts were replaced with red china components that were so rough you couldn't even install them into the part they were spec'ed to fit. Then the warranty claims went through the roof, of course the germans blamed....American workers.

They marketed the Chrysler Crossfire, a wholly german engineered, german built car that was supposed to show us "how to do it right". After proving to be a zero profit margin product, It ended up being the highest warranty cost car in all of recorded history. In the whole picture, it would have been cheaper to drop them in the ocean than to sell them at cost.

The proud, arrogant, incompotent germans were not successful in "showing America how it is done". They were successfull in stealing more cash from this country than they could have ever possibly earned, and maybe they took some revenge for the Allies turning hitler's Berlin into a smoldering hole in the ground.

It appears the Italians are at least giving it an honest effort to do business. American owned, American financed, American built products are of course the primary goal. I think the Itailans will cause less damage to America than the germans set out to do, and they FOR SURE care more about us than the red chinese.

Love my German cars

 

[Caleb]

The only thing i don't dig about the new cherokee is the front end design. it looks a little spacey for me. but other than that its a solid suv.

...and it's not a solid axle.

I saw a black one in Indy behind me right after getting my fish tank, and a silver one in Columbus day before yesterday....still ugly.

 

[jamil]

...and it's not a solid axle.

I saw a black one in Indy behind me right after getting my fish tank, and a silver one in Columbus day before yesterday....still ugly.

"Ugly" is subjective. I think they're pretty cool looking.

The solid axle is a use case issue. I had a Jeep Cherokee XJ body for almost 20 years. It had solid axles and could go just about anywhere off road. On road, it drove like you'd expect from a solid axle 4WD vehicle. That was fine when off road was a bigger part of my use for it. I drive on the road 99% of the time now. Independent suspension works just fine for my purposes.

The new Cherokee is an on-road vehicle that you can drive off-road. It's classified as a crossover and its use is not intended to be the same as the old Cherokee XJ body. AFAIK Jeep Wranglers are still solid axle. They're more of an off-road vehicle that can be driven on-road. Now when they start building Wranglers with independent suspension that's something to ***** about.

 

[Hohn]

1) There's no such thing as purity in "buy American." You think GM or Ford only gets parts from inside the US? What about the next tier suppliers? And the next? Where do you draw the line? For me, I don't care who made it or where-- quality stands on its own. And where quality misses, failure follows.

2) Capitalism is a system of profit AND loss. We should let the bankrupt go bankrupt. There's no such thing as too big to fail. There are large disruptions and small disruptions, but life would have gone on with a reconstituted GM or Chrysler, or even none at all. Those UAW workers can get other jobs, perhaps campaigning for Dems FULL time instead of part time....

 

[Hohn]

Great article on the overall adventure of car company bailouts:

The Corporatist Legacy of the Auto Bailouts | Online Library of Law and Liberty