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Mitsubishi will expand it's Normal, Ill. plant capacity 25%, to 300,000 units. The $200 million expansion project will bring approximately 300 new jobs.
Rich Hutchinson will be taking over the news section for a while to assure a steady flow of news items. We apologize for the inconvenience of disappearing for the past two weeks.
Rich Hutchinson will be taking over the news section for a while to assure a steady flow of news items. We apologize for the inconvenience of disappearing for the past two weeks.
Surprising nobody, Consumer Reports rated Toyota as the highest quality car available. However, there were two surprises in the report - Hyundai was rated equal to Honda, both vying for the #2 position - and Chrysler was the highest rated domestic, which may surprise many outside the Allpar community. Toyota had 10 problems per 100 cars, Chrysler 20, Ford 21, and GM 23. BMW equalled Chrysler's reliability rating while Mercedes trailed at 22. However, it is worth noting that there are serious issues with CR's methods, and that they rank makers by the number of problems without regard to how serious they are (their survey asks owners for the number of "serious problems" in various areas).
According to Detroit News, a citizen's group plans to request the re-opening of a defect investigation because of new evidence. This suit is interesting, because the group in question, the Environmental Working Group, is seeking to show Ford's lack of regard for vehicle safety to discredit Ford's arguments that they oppose increased gas mileage solely because it might lower vehicle safety (an interesting argument from the makers of so many exploding cars). This new evidence showed that Ford knew about the Bronco II's stability problems as it was being designed, but decided to ignore them to avoid increased costs or a delay in bringing out the popular SUV. Ford's best-known safety issue was most likely the Ford Pinto, a vehicle known by the company to have a dangerous flaw - but left unfixed because it was thought the price of lawsuits and penalties would be lower than the price of repair. More recently, Ford has been implicated in safety problems with patrol cars and has been accused of causing many tire blowouts by recommending an unsafe tire pressure in the Explorer.
Once upon a time, GM was exporting jobs while Chrysler was focusing on its American facilities. Now, GM is considering building Saabs in the US, while Chrysler makes Crossfires in Germany. Dan Minick commented: "GM, which owns 100% of Saab & 20% of Fuji Heavy (Subaru), is looking for synergies between those two groups. They both have similar demographics in their customer bases (both brands appeal to non-conformist, ?unique? type individuals). Possibly a Saab version of a WRX wagon?"
DCX has confirmed that the next-after-this-next-generation Galant, Sebring, and Stratus would move to the as-yet unproduced Neon/Lancer platform (in other words, the D platform will become an extended C platform). This move would most likely save well over $1 billion in development as well as drive down the number of unique components, and allow the future Galant/Sebrings to use the next-generation four-cylinder engines. Both platforms are being jointly designed by Chrysler and Mitsubishi.
According to separate reports, the Dodge brand for cars is being re-introduced not only in Canada, but also in Europe. Canada's first new Dodge since the phase-out of Dodge and Plymouth cars was the SX 2.0, replacing the Chrysler Neon; in Europe, the Dodge Viper will lead the re-establishment of the Dodge brand. Meanwhile, German Jeep dealers are being offered Mitsubishi licenses, according to just-auto.com.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the DCX strategy seems to be gaining some clarity. Mitsubishi, which mainly sells to the under-35 crowd and has successfully tuned its commercials for younger buyers, will replace the recently-dowdy Plymouth brand for the entry level and youth market. Dodge will be the "Chevrolet" brand representing "real" American cars, while Chrysler will reach for the oft-quoted "American Audi" image. (We'd prefer for Chrysler to emulate a more successful brand.) Mercedes will, of course, try to remain right where it is, while countering Rolls, Bently, and other stratuspheric brands with Maybach.
While DCX is indeed trying to position its brands as being very different, the general styling of the LX series seems to be reverting to older forms of brand engineering, with both Dodge and Chrysler versions featuring similar forms, most notably tiny windows. However, specific styling forms are becoming more consistent among models - a strategy last tried in the US by Ford, when Escorts, Tempos, and Tauruses had very similar styling. The Dodge models currently have very similar styling - the completely different Stratus Coupe and Neon are hard to tell apart from a distance - and the new Chryslers are very similar, as well. So far Mitsubishi has escaped this German custom, which bonds all Mercedes models and all BMW models.
This article notes that a respected analyst has examined Ford's books and found that the company would already be bankrupt if it did not have such a well-known and iconic name.
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