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Rumour on the streets in Germany is that DB are to pull out of selling Chrysler in the UK they are certainly pulling out of Germany as sales have plummeted,I notice that they are discounting the whole range at the moment in the UK apparently they are loosing money on every car sold due to the high warranty work.Rumour or fact make up your own mind.
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I see a fair few PT's and 300C's...
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if you see the price of silly parts who would want one?
friend of mine owns a bodyshop and he fancied a crossfire with light front damage,the lights were £300 a piece,i forget the price of a bonnet.
this is not an exotic car remember
also cost up the price of a r/h drive headlight for a pt sit down first mind.
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Just have to look at the Euro ncap crash tests to see why no one would want one ;-)
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Apart from the 300C (liked by owners but too big and expensive to sell in big numbers) Chrysler doesn't have any brand loyalty to back it up, nor are its cars cheap enough to make up for this (as Hyundai and Kia are doing). Dodge and Cadillac will fail for the same reason.
Chrysler made the same mistake when they took over the Rootes Group in about 1980 and rechristened some cars Chrysler, then Talbot (which was even worse) - and their new models, the Alpine and Horizon, weren't good enough do earn them any loyalty.
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Oldman
I reckon those Crossfire headlamps would have been a good deal more than £300 (unless that's with a big trade discount). The oblong ones on the old Jeeps were about £350. Front wheel bearing (comes integral with hub) was over £300. They also charge their CV boots at over £50 EACH!!
Kia and Hyundai parts aren't cheap, and you can wait a while to get them, but at least the cars are well screwed together and reliable. Chrysler don't really have a single thing in their favour - poor quality, half-cocked design, expensive parts and service and poor crash-worthiness. I also saw that Chrysler comes right at the bottom of owner satisfaction in Which? magazine - they make Landrover customers look happy!
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Chrysler made the same mistake when they took over the Rootes Group in about 1980 and rechristened some cars Chrysler, then Talbot (which was even worse) - and their new models, the Alpine and Horizon, weren't good enough do earn them any loyalty.
Chrysler bought the Rootes group in the late 60s but didn't use their own badge on the cars until much later. Talbot was an old name revived after Chrysler gave up and sold its European business to Peugeot at the end of the 70s. The Alpine and Horizon pre-dated the name change to Talbot: the former was originally a Simca.
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I'm not sure about your "sales have plummeted" claim. According to the stats I can find from the German Transport Office (KBA) and assuming I can translate them correctly:
1. Chrysler Group sales in Germany in 2006 were up by 7.9% compared to 2005 (the total market increased by only 3.8%).
2. Chrysler Group sales in Germany in January 2007 were up by 26.2% compared to January 2006 ( the total market decreased by 10.5% *).
3. Chrysler Group sales in Germany in February 2007 were up by 31.3% compared to February 2006 ( the total market decreased by 12.7% *).
In the UK Chrysler Group Sales in 2006 were up by 39.4% compared to 2005 and are planning to launch several new models this year. As for "loosing money on every car sold due to the high warranty work" - I really doubt it.
Rumour or fact make up your own mind.
Indeed.
* The German market is decreasing vs 2006 due to a tax increase which consumers avoided by replacing their cars before the start of 2007.
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hose figures include Jeep and Mercedes models made in the Chrysler plants in America .I have since read that DB and Chrysler are now to have demerger talks.
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I meant "Those" and not socks.
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Those figures include Jeep and Dodge as they are part of the Chrysler Group. Chrysler swaps brands to suit the local markets (for example the Dodge Caliber has replaced the Chrysler Neon as the entry model) so the total figure is the most relevant. The figures are vehicle registrations in Germany and do not include any Mercedes-Benz models.
DaimlerChrysler (by DB I assume you mean Daimler-Benz, a company that ceased to exist 9 years ago) is looking at all options for the Chrysler Group including keeping it and restructuring it as well as selling it.
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If you read my first mail I never said the drop in sales was a German problem ,Chrysler sales worldwide have tumbled and as far as Germany is concerned they sell so few cars its irelevent and the fact they lose money on every one does not make for good economics and as I said make your judgement .
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If you read my first mail I never said the drop in sales was a German problem ,
You said "they are certainly pulling out of Germany as sales have plummeted". This certainly reads as if you are claiming that Chrysler group are withdrawing from the German market due to falling sales (which was then proven to be completely untrue).
Chrysler sales worldwide have tumbled
Chrysler Group sales in total in 2006 decreased by 6%. This was due to a fall in US sales of 9%. Sales were up in Canada by 6%, Mexico by 7% and and everywhere else (including those places like Germany where you claim they have "plummeted") by 22%. Falls in the US were due to the sudden change in consumer demand from SUVs to smaller cars and a decline in minivan sales as the Voyager reached the end of its production run.
and as far as Germany is concerned they sell so few cars its irelevent
I don't disagree that sales in Germany are small. Chrysler Group have a 0.5% share of the German market - the same as Porsche. However, I don't think that just having a small market share is enough to force a car manufacturer to quit (especially when they are increasing their market share).
and the fact they lose money on every one does not make for good economics
An interesting point. It is certainly true that Chrysler Group made a loss of $1.1 billion in 2006 but they made a profit of $1.5 billion in 2005 on more or less the same cars. It is much more complicated than suggesting that cars are simply made at a loss. Cutting overheads and closing plants with excess capacity could produce the same volume of cars at much lower overall cost and return the Group to profit. Lots of car companies can make losses in a year but it does not mean that they are going out of business.
>>and as I said make your judgement .
By all means but make it helps to provide some facts.
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I likw the look of the new Sebring.
BTW, the 300C hasn't done any NCAP stuff, but performed very well in the USA IIRC.
MTC
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Isn´t it the RHD Chrysler Voyager that give the most cause for crash concern? Think I read somewhere that in a frontal accident the offset motor stoves into the driver´s legs.
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Yep - the LHD performed better. Part poor crash worthiness, part poor RHD conversion.
It wasn't exactly great in LHD either.
Funny, because it comes out well in the US tests. But that's another subject entirely...
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The Ford 150 truck also does well in their tests but its about as safe as a 1959 Mini.
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