Why the Dodge Caliber and not another Neon?

This is just a quick post to cover some misconceptions out there.

First, Chrysler turned to Mitsubishi for the “hard points” or platform for the Caliber largely because MMC had developed a very modern platform, ten years newer than that of the Neon, which had current safety standards in mind as well as the flexibility demanded by today’s auto execs (that is, it can be a sports car or an SUV, just like the K-cars could, but with more effective adaptation to each role). Also, the idea was to share development costs, with Mitsu slowly being absorbed into the Daimler empire and merged with Chrysler. Mitsu pulled out, but that was apparently the plan, and it wasn’t such a bad idea given the tremendous cost of building new vehicles and the relatively low sales of both Chrysler and Mitsubishi in this segment (only about 120,000 Neons were sold each year and development costs run into the billions).

Second, the Neon was not a low quality car; it was a high quality car with certain foolish cost-cutting measures (head gasket, exhaust donut), supplier problems (air conditioning), and a gaping design flaw (frameless windows) which were not addressed quickly enough. By 1998 the Neon had solved most of its problems, but you don’t recover from a reputation as bad as it got. That’s the main reason the Neon name was dropped.

Third, the Caliber is a completely new design with hardly any Neon carryover in any components.

The Neon was quite profitable in its first few years, and many, many buyers were very happy with it, but with the quality problems, inadequate automatic transmissions, and quirks like manual rear windows, not to mention the absolutely awful reputation that plagued the poor car - much more than it would have had the Neon been made by any other company other than perhaps Hyundai - far worse than the Neon ever deserved, even in its very early months of production - the Neon name had to go.

As for why they made a wagon only, I can only guess it was money, pure and simple. Daimler had sucked Chrysler Corporation dry, and there is no money for re-establishing the Plymouth brand, so desparately needed to allow Chrysler to move up into near-luxury and to allow Dodge to be purely bold and brash, much less two completely different vehicles (one for Jeep and one for Dodge). So the Jeep is still differentiated in suspension, base engine, and sheet metal, but you only get a wagon (sorry, I meant crossover!) form.

So no more slandering the poor humble Neon, OK? It just wanted to say “hi” … and outperform every other car in its price class for about ten years.

[Additional note: you can read a Dodge Caliber review at acarplace.com.]