Chrysler Killing Now Four Slow Sellers

[mikeyb]

Jack Welch is still worshipped at General Electric, as well as anywhere that his disciples went. Well, anywhere except Home Depot and, now, PT Cruiser owners' clubs. As part of a campaign to sweep out the dead wood in Chrysler's product lineup, Welch protege, newly minted Chairman, and CEO Bob "Little Jack" Nardelli is planning to announce during a board meeting that the PT Cruiser, Magnum wagon, and Pacifica crossover will be loaded onto the death-carts today.

Although the agenda for the meeting is being kept secret by staff at Chrysler, insiders are saying that Nardelli is aggressively angling to cut the fat off Chryslers product line, making the company "laser-focused" (someone should pass a Post-It to Bob asking him to never make reference to, or even hint around, the words "Chrysler" and "Laser" in the same sentence) and deciding issues "with a bias toward speed."

The Dodge Dakota, Jeep Commander, Chrysler Sebring and its twin Dodge Avenger are also being scrutinized but, for now, their execution has been stayed.

 

[tsunami]

the magnum is all over the place up here thats surprising.. the cruiser and pacifica i am not surprised or sad to see go.

 

[jred321]

good. glad to see a businessman is finally running the company and is willing to say "we're not making money, ditch it"

 

[mikeyb]

keep the Magnum ditch the other two!!!

 

[SuperStretch18]

Maybe time for a new Magnum model, but yeah, the other two are dogs...

 

[jred321]

ditch:

dodge:
nitro
avenger

chrysler:
crossfire
pacifica
pt cruiser
sebring
sebring convertible
redesign the town and country and aspen to be distinct vehicles instead of their dodge counterparts with a different grill that cost more

jeep:
commander
eliminate 2 of the following because they're basically appealing to the same market: patriot, compass, liberty

that's how i'd trim the fat from chrysler. then for the next generation of each of the cars i'd make them actually appeal to people

 

[dmitrik4]

maybe if chrysler made appealing products to begin with, they wouldn't need to axe some of them. perhaps nardelli should point his laser focus on that.

 

[Foolish]

maybe if chrysler made appealing products to begin with, they wouldn't need to axe some of them. perhaps nardelli should point his laser focus on that.

Well, maybe he's getting to that! This is a good start.

The PT sold well on style, and that worked for a time. Sadly, it's not a great vehicle, and the people who wanted them for the style have gotten them, so there's no market left. It's also proven virtually impossible to update, which is a problem it shares with the New Beetle. Add to that the HHR, which almost has to be a better car by virtue of being developed 10+ years later, and the PT is just a losing proposition.

The Pacifica never caught on. I can't believe they've kept it around this long. I hadn't realized they were still producing them. Dismissed!

As for the Magnum, I thought it had been a big seller. I know the Charger and 300C have done well, and I thought the Magnum was with them on that, but I guess not.

The new Sebring is hideous, I haven't heard one good thing about it. I'm guessing they're going to try to get some of their development money out of it before they kill it.

Maybe things will change over there, I guess we'll see.

 

[TinmanMS6]

They need to pump some cash into their interiors, or they might as well cut the whole lineup.

I'm mixed on the Magnum. It's cool, but it isn't sold with a manual, and it's not really that useful for doing wagony things, so it's kind of useless.

PT started out as a great idea. Relatively cheap car with style and a lot of utility. The HHR seems to sell pretty well, and the PT actually doesn't do too bad, considering how long it's gone without a major update. If they did a redesign, it could be a hot seller again.

I really don't know why there is so little talk of killing the Compass. There is nothing good that could be said about that thing, and I have seen extremely few of them on the road.

 

[jmv]

i've always harbored a small secret desire for a magnum with a huge roots supercharger sticking up out of the hood. I think they look cool even though they're big and heavy as hell.

good riddance on the cruiser and pacifica, though.

 

[jred321]

check out dodge's site. it looks like they made the magnum uglier for 08. they did something to the formerly good looking front end and now it's worse

 

[TinmanMS6]

Yeah, I always kind of hoped they'd put the Charger front end on it or something. If GM brings over the VE Commodore wagon, nobody will ever miss the Magnum.

 

[redrims]

the magnum is all over the place up here thats surprising...

Same here. I see Dodge Magnums' every time I look left. I thought they were sell extremely well.

 

[efm-7]

jeep patriot is HOT looking

****, if they weren't such sure-to-be-lemons

i woulda bought one

 

[Foolish]

jeep patriot is HOT looking

I know you're new to the forum, but you're clearly suffering some kind of brain injury. You should seek medical attention, immediately.

Welcome to the forum, BTW.

 

[genericuser]

Chrysler, you are on my s*** list.

I love the dodge magnum, and it has been selling well.

Why not get rid of the Chrysler Aspen first? How about the compass/patriot? I agree with the commander and pacifica.

The PT was your best selling car for YEARS you twit. I'd never buy one, but at least give it a restyle.


Ugh.. Bad move killing the magnum... bad move.

 

[Foolish]

The PT was your best selling car for YEARS you twit. I'd never buy one, but at least give it a restyle.

They can't. With a vehicle that style-focused, they can either do a nearly un-noticeable touch-up, which won't generate any new interest (2nd gen. New Beetles), or a completely different vehicle (2nd Gen Scion xB) that fans of the 1st gen will hate, and may succeed on it's own, but also may fail . Either way, they lose.

 

[Flash5]

Not the magnum, the other two...yea def on that one.

 

[protegeV]

They didnt need to kill the old Magnum, but the one with the new "avengerish" front end needs to GO! Same with the PTC and Crossfire.

 

[BondoBob]

I drove MOPARs for years. I think that the new management wants to clear out some of the D-B junk.

I always thought that the Magnum should have been offered as a Chrysler 300 wagon. There is a guy on Long Island who swapped out the front sheetmetal on his Magnum to create just that and damn if it doesn't look sweet.

The PT Cruiser was cool when it first came out. The turbo and the droptop came a bit late to the party...the sedan delivery they teased us with never came. BTW, the guy who designed the PT (Plymouth Truck) is now at GM and penned the HHR. It needs a refresh, but killing it is fine, too.

The Pacifica crossover is a real Damiler product and they can do better.

I heard that the Durango/Aspen is toast as well.