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Chrysler 200 officially dies Friday


fuzzymoomoo

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Well, if nothing else... at least they nailed the tag line ("Imported From Detroit") which was a billion times cooler than anything the EcoSport Motor Company has been able to come up with :violin:

 

I guess you need more than clever marketing and a little Slim Shady star power to sell cars nowadays

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200 and Dart are the biggest flops in maybe decades? [since Edsel?] All new car pulled in less than 3 years! Mopar's 3rd rate quality lingered since the 70's, and they couldn't charge full MSRP for the new cars, after decades of "buy a car, get a check".

 

Fusion and Malibu are hanging in there, and less competition now.

 

Predict that the Chrysler name wont see the 2020's. Can rename the Pacifica as a Ram, and maybe call the Charger the Ram Dodge Charger for cop cars? "Fiat-Jeep Inc"

Edited by 630land
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Well, if nothing else... at least they nailed the tag line ("Imported From Detroit") which was a billion times cooler than anything the EcoSport Motor Company has been able to come up with :violin:

 

I guess you need more than clever marketing and a little Slim Shady star power to sell cars nowadays

I did think that tag line was pretty cool. Unfortunately it hasn't helped them much.

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200 and Dart are the biggest flops in maybe decades? [since Edsel?] All new car pulled in less than 3 years! Mopar's 3rd rate quality lingered since the 70's, and they couldn't charge full MSRP for the new cars, after decades of "buy a car, get a check".

 

Fusion and Malibu are hanging in there, and less competition now.

 

Predict that the Chrysler name wont see the 2020's. Can rename the Pacifica as a Ram, and maybe call the Charger the Ram Dodge Charger for cop cars? "Fiat-Jeep Inc"

 

 

I think the Lincoln Blackwood is widely considered the biggest flop in US automotive history since it lasted less than a year.

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I think the Lincoln Blackwood is widely considered the biggest flop in US automotive history since it lasted less than a year.

 

but its also not a mass market vehicle like the 200 was either. They are abandoning a large chunk of the automotive market in the US...They basically don't have any mid to smaller cars (outside of Fiat, which barely sells any themselves) to offset larger products with poorer gas mileage...how is that going to work out when gas goes back up to $4 a gallon one day?

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I think the Lincoln Blackwood is widely considered the biggest flop in US automotive history since it lasted less than a year.

Although a flop. I don't think people remember it enough to be considered a biggest flop. If production continued and it was killed after a year or two with thousands unsold and heavy discounts. Then that's a big flop. I personally think the 2002-2005 Thunderbird was a flop. However, both of those were niche vehicles.

The bad part is the 200 is a pretty good looking car. It's a shame it didn't work out.

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Although a flop. I don't think people remember it enough to be considered a biggest flop. If production continued and it was killed after a year or two with thousands unsold and heavy discounts. Then that's a big flop. I personally think the 2002-2005 Thunderbird was a flop. However, both of those were niche vehicles.

The bad part is the 200 is a pretty good looking car. It's a shame it didn't work out.

It is disappointing to see the car fail, as I thought it was a nice looking car too. I love competition and I would not prefer to see Chrysler fail, not to mention the impact it will have on the employees. I'm surprised there hasn't been a coup to remove Marchionne, as there seems to be a number of questionable decisions under his watch.

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but its also not a mass market vehicle like the 200 was either. They are abandoning a large chunk of the automotive market in the US...They basically don't have any mid to smaller cars (outside of Fiat, which barely sells any themselves) to offset larger products with poorer gas mileage...how is that going to work out when gas goes back up to $4 a gallon one day?

 

 

There are many examples of this happening in automotive history, remember the period known as the "Great Dying" in Detroit when Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saturn, Mercury etc. dropped dead along with many freshly minted mass market products. Ford also dropped the Taurus when it sold far more vehicles than their replacements ever would. This is hardly anything spectacular compared to what we've seen in very recent history. Ford has had a ton of underachieving products that they held onto regardless, 500/Freestyle/TaurusX/Flex/MKT/Taurus were all huge sales disappointments, but it's a company that can absorb those costs better than FCA. FCA is discontinuing those products but replacing them with more profitable volume from other segments. This isn't a bad idea considering FCA sells more SUV and Crossovers than Ford which is shrinking more quickly because of their unbalanced portfolio. Make no mistake, Ford has some big decisions to make here soon and they are already warning that they are about to start pulling products and shifting gears. I actually believe FCA is doing the right thing for it's business, leverage your best assets and get away from the saturated/diminishing segments.

Edited by BORG
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The Blackwood was only created to give Lincoln dealers something to sell after they cancelled Continental and LS and Aviator and before Zephyr. Given it cost almost nothing to create it wasn't a bad business decision.

Edited by akirby
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Ford has had a ton of underachieving products that they held onto regardless, 500/Freestyle/TaurusX/Flex/MKT/Taurus were all huge sales disappointments, but it's a company that can absorb those costs better than FCA. FCA is discontinuing those products but replacing them with more profitable volume from other segments. This isn't a bad idea considering FCA sells more SUV and Crossovers than Ford which is shrinking more quickly because of their unbalanced portfolio. Make no mistake, Ford has some big decisions to make here soon and they are already warning that they are about to start pulling products and shifting gears. I actually believe FCA is doing the right thing for it's business, leverage your best assets and get away from the saturated/diminishing segments.

 

Seriously? So your going to equate the "failure" of the D3 platform as the same as what FCA is doing?

 

They don't have a midsized or even a compact sized car between their entire line up and the Fiat products are subcompact/B segment cars that sell in tiny numbers in the US.

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The Blackwood was only created to give Lincoln dealers something to sell after they cancelled Continental and LS and Aviator and before Zephyr. Given it cost almost nothing to create it wasn't a bad business decision.

I really don't think the blackwood was a bad idea. I just think it was a little too soon and needed a real bed. Look at trucks now, 60k+ and selling like crazy. Btw everything was already available to Ford besides the bed. IIRC If you price a bed assembly from parts it's $45k. Fun fact is last time I checked vintage parts has stock of them.

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The Blackwood was only created to give Lincoln dealers something to sell after they cancelled Continental and LS and Aviator and before Zephyr. Given it cost almost nothing to create it wasn't a bad business decision.

I think you're thinking of the Mark LT. The Blackwood was actually a rather intensive development concept... though it looks a lot like the SuperCrew of the day, it actually shared much, much more with the 1st gen Navigator.

 

Truth time: I shop them used from time to time and just may end up with one at some point. The carpet lined bed with split swinging doors in lieu of the tailgate are quirky at best, but I love the damn things. Always have.

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I think you're thinking of the Mark LT. The Blackwood was actually a rather intensive development concept... though it looks a lot like the SuperCrew of the day, it actually shared much, much more with the 1st gen Navigator.

 

Truth time: I shop them used from time to time and just may end up with one at some point. The carpet lined bed with split swinging doors in lieu of the tailgate are quirky at best, but I love the damn things. Always have.

 

Makes you wonder what a 2003 one would've looked like (the 2003 Navigator has always been my favorite).

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I think you're thinking of the Mark LT. The Blackwood was actually a rather intensive development concept... though it looks a lot like the SuperCrew of the day, it actually shared much, much more with the 1st gen Navigator.

 

Truth time: I shop them used from time to time and just may end up with one at some point. The carpet lined bed with split swinging doors in lieu of the tailgate are quirky at best, but I love the damn things. Always have.

 

Ah crap - you're right. I was thinking of the Mark LT. I remember when I bought my LS in 99 they were advertising a special - buy a blackwood at MSRP and get a Mercury Cougar for free!

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