What Is It, Then And Now, The Dealer Question

- What is it?

All the talk about the upcoming Caliber and comments about what it actually is sparked further thought regarding modern vehicles.

It’s almost a rhetorical question, but I sometimes wonder what to call some of these ‘five door hatch’ vehicles. Some people call anything that has a high ride height and isn’t a minivan an SUV. To me the SUV grew out of what we used to call 4 x 4’s. Based on that, an SUV not only needs some four wheel drive capability, but also the beefier underpinnings to tackle at least moderate off road work.

So then what’s a Nissan Murano? One look at those wheels tells you it’s not an offroader. Is it a car? Can’t be a truck. Hmm.

It used to be easy when I was a kid; it was a sedan, a station wagon, a coupe. You had roadsters, and trucks. Of course ‘coupes’ and ‘two door sedans’ confused me a bit back then.

I’ve always thought of the PT as a ‘mini-minivan’ but don’t minivans have sliding doors? Well, the old Mazda MPV didn’t. But all the others have. So maybe the PT is a tall station wagon a-la the Pacifica or Freestar. Back in the days from which it drew inspiration, it was common for vehicles to be ‘tall’. The Caliber? I’m sticking with five door hatch as applied to the old Horizon, the most direct Mopar descendent. Who knows what the government will call it; when the ‘it’s SO a station wagon’ Magnum is classified as a truck…something is just askew.

Then and Now

It’s fascinating to look back at my old brochures and see how times have changed. I mean, every model line had a two four doors (pillared and hardtop), two foor doors (again, pillared and hardtop), a station wagon, and often a convertible. Never mind the color palette inside and out.

Fast forward a couple decades and that’s all a distant memory, with short exterior color lists, and even shorter body style and interior color lists. Of course the hardtop went away because of safety concerns, the convertible died and was reborn, and the station wagon melded with the cargo van and came out the minivan. Two doors are almost gone compared to what was available. It certainly shows how a competitive market forces changes, huh?.

Of course, no comment on ‘then and now’ can really be complete without mentioning the strides in overall reliability of today’s vehicles, and the level of content included or available in them. There’s no question they’re worlds ahead in those departments. Routine maintainence requirements (aside from oil and filter) and intervals are greatly extended for the most part; which is good because much of it isn’t very ‘routine’ anymore. After all, I just recently figured out where the battery is on my PT Cruiser

The Dealer question

For an upcoming entry I’m going to talk about dealer experiences people have had and try to get a handle on how Allpar folks think Chrysler is doing with their dealer network. It’s been an achilles heel in the past from all accounts; something that I’ve always found interesting since my experience has always been good. There’s a poll in the Chrysler Chat forum regarding this topic. There are some great comments there already; if you haven’t done so check it out and add yours! There’s no real deadline on it, when replies start dying off I’ll begin work on the entry. � ]]>
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Sebring Rendering Now Up

Based on insider information, “Charger” of JP Designs and myself worked on this rendering, which is said to be pretty darn close to the real thing.

As well as the rendering, we’ve condensed the rumors and information we know. The rendering and article are located at http://www.allpar.com/model/stratus01.html (feel free to distribute the link, but please don not host the image on your own in other forums/message boards).

Enjoy!

~ E8]]>

Chrysler Group: Directions…

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Hmm. Let’s see. Chrysler seems to be removing themselves from the midsize coupe and small sedan markets (as Eric Ridenour states, they have no plans for a three box sedan to replace the Neon, relying soley on the Caliber). Plus, they’re moving ahead with the woefully misbegotten idea of a full size SUV for Chrysler based on the Durango, and calling it an Aspen, of all things. We have a whole raft of new 5 door Jeeps seemingly on the way.

I’m sure the new Jeeps and their higher profit returns will make any former Chrysler/Plymouth dealers that haven’t forgetten the latter, forget it now. While the Commander will be rather beefy, the other two are smaller and should compete against the RAV-4’s and CRV’s of the world. So we’ll have five Jeeps (excluding the Wrangler which is it’s own niche), the Caliber, Durango, PT Cruiser, Pacifica, and the minivans.

My biggest concern here is the comments regarding no small sedans, that there’s not a market for one. Well, tell that to Honda (Civic), Toyota (Corolla), Ford (Focus) and even Chevy (Cobalt). Meanwhile they’re plunging further into the big SUV market with the Aspen.

This doesn’t sound like forward thinking to me. The Caliber is fine as an entry level vehicle…we moved from the Neon to the PT Cruiser because it fit our automotive needs. The bodystyle is one that I can see gaining in popularity for those who need more room than a sedan, on a budget. However by ignoring the small sedan market they’re removing themselves completely from a segment that may just become quite hot if we hit national $3.00 gas prices (today’s national average is $2.42 for regular; highest reported on gaspricewatch this morning is $2.92 in Hawaii). It certainly seems more viable than another full size beast.

There’s a concern here that they’re removing themselves from market segments entirely and throwing so much muscle into the SUV/5 door hatch ‘crossover’ segments. If the Caliber doesn’t hit, and if the refreshed PT insides don’t inspire sales, those that might have considered a small sedan instead will need to go elsewhere.

Again, don’t get me wrong; the idea behind the Caliber is fine. And, as long as you glance the other way while walking past Ford dealers you can make a decent argument that two door cars are passe. However, I think removing themselves from the small sedan market is a potentially grievous mistake, one I suspect they will change course on. � ]]>
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