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[quote=“Big Boss”"]
Chrysler trumpets shared design with Fiat as Chrysler 200 debuts
(Reuters) - The Chrysler 200 mid-sized sedan to be rolled out this week at the Detroit auto show will be the third model built on the same European-based vehicle architecture by Chrysler Group LLC, as the company moves forward with a design strategy focused on slashing development times and costs.
Chrysler and its Italian parent, Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), are playing catch-up with other global automakers such as crosstown rivals General Motors Co (GM.N) and Ford Motor Co (F.N) in developing cost-cutting shared architectures.
And with mid-sized sedans being the largest segment of the car market, the new Chrysler 200 will come under sharp scrutiny.
Chrysler’s platform-sharing effort began in earnest shortly after its 2009 bankruptcy, when the company came under control of Fiat and Fiat’s chief executive, Sergio Marchionne.
The 2015 Chrysler 200 is the latest Chrysler model and fifth in the Fiat-Chrysler fold to share vehicle architecture. The platform was first used for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. Then came the Dodge Dart, the first car jointly designed by Fiat and Chrysler, then the Fiat Viaggio made and sold in China, and most recently the Jeep Cherokee SUV.
By 2016, when Fiat and Chrysler are expected to have merged into a single company, more than 1 million vehicles are expected to have been built off the architecture, including some models not yet given the green light for production, said Mark Chernoby, who is in charge of engineering and product planning for Chrysler.
The 200 has had the smoothest path to production of any of the vehicles on what Chrysler calls its compact U.S.-wide architecture, Chernoby said.
“This is one of the huge values of common architectures,” he said.
The launch of the Dart was bumpy as automatic transmission cars weren’t readily available, and the Cherokee’s launch in October was delayed by two months because of issues related to the company’s new nine-speed transmission.
SHARED PARTS
The Dart, the Cherokee and the 200 share between 50 percent and 70 percent of their parts, which cuts costs significantly, although Chernoby would not provide details.
The company also saves money on developing models by shaving development time by about five months for each one, compared with bringing a car to production from scratch, Chernoby said.
The common parts are almost entirely those not noticed by the customer. A Dodge still needs to look and feel like a Dodge, a Jeep a Jeep, and a Fiat a Fiat, said Chernoby.
Marchionne, who is chief executive of both Fiat and of Chrysler, took a big step toward his plan to merge the two companies with a deal announced early this month for Fiat to buy the 41.46 percent of Chrysler is does not already own. The deal is to close by January 20.
But a merger of the companies it not likely to change the plans to share architectures of compact and mid-size models, which would have happened anyway, Chernoby said.
Plans to use a common architecture for the Dart, the Cherokee and the 200 date back to 2009 when Marchionne and Chrysler’s and Fiat’s designers and engineers began planning the products that have since come out, as well as those yet to come.
The same underpinning for these vehicles will be the basis for “most if not all of our” compact and mid-size cars in the next few years as well, said Chrysler spokesman Rick Deneau.
TOUGH MIDSIZE COMPETITION
Chrysler’s efforts in bringing out the new 200 are being closely watched, because of the importance of the mid-sized sedan market.
“A capable mid-size sedan remains the biggest hole in Chrysler’s lineup, putting pressure on the sleek new 200 to succeed in that high-volume, highly competitive segment,” said Karl Brauer, analyst with research firm Kelley Blue Book.
Last year, the Chrysler 200 placed ninth among mid-size sedans, with sales of 122,500, down 2.4 percent.
This is the second redo of the Chrysler 200.
This time, the car is the product of a few years of design and development work, rather than the rush refreshing job introduced in 2010 fix the old Chrysler Sebring, which was allowed to languish under the company’s previous owners, Cerberus Capital Management.
“Clearly the expectations are going to be a bit higher” for the 2015 Chrysler 200, said Mike Jackson, IHS director of North American vehicle production forecasting.
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[quote=“Big Boss”"]
(Automobile Magazine)
2015 Chrysler 200 Debuts at 2014 Detroit Auto Show
The outgoing Chrysler 200 has been around since the nadir of the brand’s existence. It arrived in showrooms as the 2007 Chrysler Sebring, just before Daimler unloaded the automaker on Cerberus. Eight model years is nearly twice the timeline of the average mainstream, front-wheel-drive mid-size sedan, although under Fiat, Chrysler executed a significant facelift for the 2011 model year, complete with a new name and a Super Bowl XLV commercial featuring Eminem.
In retrospect, it might have made sense to keep the Sebring name for that car and save “200” for this new, Fiat-based 2015 model, even though the facelift and generous discounting pushed sales back up to respectable levels in the last couple of years. Chrysler sold 122,480 200s in the U.S. in 2012 and perhaps a few hundred more, rebadged as Lancia Flavias, in Italy.
The 2015 Chrysler 200 has lost all the gawkiness of the 2007-14 Sebring/200, and corporate design chief Ralph Gilles, wistfully recalling the models of the Tom Gale/cab-forward era, says it reveals “nothing short of an absolutely new design language for Chrysler.” The 2015 Chrysler 200 is scheduled to begin production in the second quarter of this year.
Chrysler marketing plans to talk up the car’s “Imported from Detroit” image and the $1 billion it has invested to upgrade the Sterling Heights, Michigan, assembly plant where the Chrysler 200 and Dodge Avenger are produced. Less than five years ago, the plan was to shutter the factory as Chrysler emerged from its bankruptcy.
Chrysler division design chief Brandon Faurote says his team was careful to make sure the new 200 “exudes” American design. It does do that, even while riding on a stretched version of the Fiat-based platform that was widened to make the Dodge Dart. Being a mid-size car, the new 200 has a longer wheelbase and greater overall length.
“The silhouette is not your traditional three-box design,” Faurote says, adding that it has a “very fast roofline.” That’s made possible by an upsweep of the beltline between the B- and C-pillars, a familiar design trick that tends to result in a claustrophobic-feeling back seat in family sedans. In a preview of the car, the back seat felt at least as commodious as most of its competitors, though without the family-friendly capaciousness and outward visibility of the current mid-size benchmark, the Honda Accord.
Faurote also highlights the hockey-stick-shape, full-LED daytime running lights and “signature” lighting; the low, sloping hood line; HID high- and low-beam headlights; and available 19-inch wheels.
The 2015 Chrysler 200 will come standard with the company’s new nine-speed automatic transmission for transverse-engine cars and with an electronic rotary knob shifter. Engine choices are a 184-horsepower, 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder with a 6- to 13-percent fuel-economy gain over the current I-4, and a 295-horsepower, 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6.
A new optional on-demand all-wheel-drive system, available with the Pentastar V-6, is fully automatic and can disconnect at either the front or rear wheels. Suspension is MacPherson struts up front and a multi-link independent rear.
Available safety and tech features include automated parallel and perpendicular parking, a blind-spot information system, rear cross-path monitors, lane-departure warning, and a 911 emergency call feature.
As it did with the redesigned 300/300C, Chrysler is de-coupling the 200’s trim levels with engine choice. You won’t have to opt for the V-6 to go for the glitz. Paddle-shifters for the nine-speed automatic are available with the 200C or the 200S V-6, for example.
The new Chrysler 200S will have blacked-out daylight-opening trim and grille, hyper-black 19-inch wheels, sport seats, sport suspension with torque-vectoring AWD, and the 295-hp V-6. The 200C gets a premium interior and real wood trim. Chrysler has indicated that it is looking to cover a large swath of the midsize sedan segment with a loaded version that can potentially rival the Lincoln MKZ. With the 2015 Chrysler 200’s base price $95 cheaper than that of the current car – $22,695 with destination – the 200 will continue to try and challenge rental-fleet-trim Ford Fusions, as well.
Chrysler declined to confirm a new generation of its 200 folding-hard-top convertible or a Dodge Avenger sibling. Rumors have a rear-wheel-drive replacement for the Avenger being built off a new smaller-than-Chrysler 300 platform that would be shared with the SRT Barracuda and Alfa Romeo sedans. The Barracuda and Alfa projects appear to be delayed, however; Chrysler could cover the Dodge sedan lineup with the Dart and the Charger.
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[quote=“Big Boss”"]
(Motor Trend)
First Look: 2015 Chrysler 200
Now, A Car Worth Singing About
I am forever connected to the Chrysler 200. I wish my name were connected with a Jeep, or even the coming ‘Cuda. But no, I’m stuck with the 200. But because of this connection, I am very happy to see the 2015 Chrysler 200, transformed from the platform up. This car is worthy of the tag line Imported from Detroit.
If you go back to 2011, it was the Chrysler 200 that was featured in a Super Bowl commercial that put a spotlight on The D. Many people in the city literally cried when they saw that two-minute spot. It perfectly mixed Motor City with Motown. The beat was hard, the visuals gritty, and it was very moving when the choir sang to Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” at the end. It was a defining moment.
The only problem: That 200 was an absolutely awful machine destined for rental fleets and deep discounts at dealerships. That car was the white flag of Chrysler’s surrender as it tried to overhaul other vehicles in its fleet. When I called out the carmaker for making a fabulous commercial about a lousy car, my newspaper softened the online version of story after an advertiser complained. So I quit. And there’s the connection.
The next-generation Chrysler 200 that will be displayed at the North American International Auto Show is even better than the original commercial. It’s also better than much of the midsize competition. It takes the best Chrysler has been developing and then breaks new ground. That is how you build a car.
The heart of the new 200 begins with the nine-speed automatic transmission and either the 2.4L Tigershark I-4 or the Pentastar 3.6L V-6. The Tigershark, a Multiair 2 engine, will create 184 horsepower and 173 lb-ft of torque, which should be plenty of power for this 3473-pound car. The Pentastar’s 295 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque will give customers that much more power. While gas mileage numbers were not released, it should easily push its mileage to at least 35 mpg on the highway and mid-20s for city driving.
The 200 will also feature a number of high-tech devices to enhance the driving experience. There will be selective driving modes, adaptive cruise control, full-speed forward collision warning plus system, a lane departure warning system, and an all-wheel-drive system that can completely disconnect the rear axle from the drive train in order to boost mileage. (This is the same system that debuted on the Jeep Cherokee.)
The 200 debuts Chrysler’s new CUS-wide platform. It provides a much stiffer body, which should make for much better performance and a more comfortable ride.
Chrysler throws a ton of high-tech features at this car. Most – like blind-spot detection, backup cameras, radar, and even automatic braking if the door is open and the seat belt isn’t latched – are found on many other cars.
The car keeps its somewhat unsavory silhouette, but it’s leaner and crisper. The rear is slightly lifted for a more wedge-like stance. The exterior features gloss black trim and accent pieces, integrated dual exhaust tips, and 19-inch Hyper Black aluminum wheels. The grille and headlamps are integrated and even the Chrysler winged badge is new. Attention to detail can be found on every inch of the car, whether in the standard light pipe or the LED daytime running lights. This car should look great at night and includes LED taillamps that are as distinctive as the ones found on the Dodge Charger.
But for me, the biggest improvements are inside…
Between the two standard circular gauges, Chrysler uses a 7-inch information display cluster that allows the driver to customize the screen through buttons on the steering wheel. Of course, Chrysler continues with its UConnect infotainment system, which uses an optional 8.4-inch touch screen and a host of features, such as reading text messages aloud. The system can operate by voice commands and includes SiriusXM Travel Link, which can build a weather map on your navigation system, provide movie listings, and even list nearby fuel prices.
Most of all, though, when you sit down in this car, you look around and think, “Wow, this is really nice.” It’s not just nice compared to the previous model; it is nice compared to any midsize car with a starting price around $22,000. There’s craftsmanship throughout the cabin – the plush leather seats, the rotary gear shifter, the floating center console that provides additional reach through storage (meaning you can put your phone on the lower, out-of-the-way shelf and still run a power cord to it to keep it charged).
This is a thoughtful interior, ergonomically designed with luxury features sprinkled throughout the cabin. There are no harsh chunks of plastic anywhere; instead there is delicate wood trim and door panels that are soft and well-appointed.
The door closes with a heavy thud, reassuring any potential owner that this is Detroit’s finest sheetmetal. (And in fairness, the car is made in metro Detroit, not actually inside city limits, but still, close enough for marketers.)
When I first sat in this car, I couldn’t help but smile. Well-done, Chrysler. Thank you, designers and engineers. This is the Chrysler 200 I have been waiting for, and I hope it performs as well as it looks, because I don’t mind being connected to this nameplate. It’s a fine machine.
To quote that infamous commercial: The Chrysler 200 has arrived.
Finally.
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