As you may have already known, lots of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles company news come out today. While most of them promises “new models” comes out at xxxx year. Here are some of the information (plus a little bit insider news) I consider being important.
1. New Town and Country minivan launched at 2016. The new T&C will have 3 seats for the second row (the center one can be removed; also stow and go is available too), makes the minivan an 8-person vehicle; Also a hybrid version will join the lineup, making it the first hybrid car in this segment;
2. New model: Chrylser 100, both 1.4L turbo and 2.4L four-cylinder engine will be offered, paired to a 9-speed automatic transmission. This is supposed to compete with compact cars such as Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra. This is an already very crowded market; even Chrysler already has a similar car: the Dodge Dart. We know the Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 co-exist at this moment, it is interesting to see how Chrysler position the 100 with the Dodge Dart;
3. Chrysler 300 SRT model will be cancelled. Although this is still a “rumor” (which we are pretty sure will happen), it is understandable. The Dodge Charger SRT8 servers the same functionalities and requirements as the 300 SRT8, no need to product 2 while it can be done with 1 model;
4. The SRT brand will be consolidated back to Dodge. Currently the SRT brand officially only has one model: the Viper. Since everybody knows SRT Viper is actually the Dodge Viper, and I bet most people view SRT to be a trim rather than a brand perceptively, it is logical to bring it back into Dodge;
5. The above-mentioned Dodge Dart will receive the SRT treatment, and comes with turbocharging and AWD in 2016;
6. The 3-row-seat Dodge Journey will also get the AWD SRT model too;
7. 2015 Dodge Charger and Challenger SRT will get supercharged V8 engines;
8. Jeep is going up-market, by introducing a Luxury SUV called the “Grand Wagoneer”, which will debut in 2018;
9. The Luxury brand Maserati, will debut a SUV model called “Lavante”; the brand will stop producint the current two-door sports car GranTurismo (both the coupe and convertible), and re-introduce them in 2018; during this gap, Maserati will provide a new coupe/convertible model called the “Alfieri”, in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Generally speaking, the direction FAC is going is: Chrysler will be the main stream brand; Alfa Romeo is returning to US market, using the RWD platform to compete with compact and mid-size luxury sedan segment; Dodge will become a sporty brand, with SRT series products (so Chrysler 300 will kill the SRT trim).
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