Dodge/Chrysler Sold Out

[shrinkdoc]

As you all know now is as of last week Dodge and Chrysler had officially become full Italian non American products. Fully owned 100% by Fiat. How do feel about driving a Hemi Fiat Challenger. Would you want the name Fiat associated with what was previousy an American name plate born and bread in America?

[Hamilton2400]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it previously daimlerchrysler, a German owned company?

[G-Oil Guy]

Originally Posted by Hamilton2400

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it previously daimlerchrysler, a German owned company?

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

I don't care who owns them, as long as the people who work in the States keep their jobs, which, from the initial looks, Fiat has no plans to change.

[Q'smuscle]

Originally Posted by G-Oil Guy

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

I don't care who owns them, as long as the people who work in the States keep their jobs, which, from the initial looks, Fiat has no plans to change.

100% agree! Well I do wish that we could still keep everything American. But not possible.

[G-Oil Guy]

Originally Posted by Q'smuscle

100% agree! Well I do wish that we could still keep everything American. But not possible.

The cars are still designed here and assembled here. Parts come from all over the world (and it would be great if they were manufactured in America) but I'll take what I can get.

[DGthe3]

Chrysler didn't have a whole lot of say in the matter, it was the Veba healthcare fund that sold the remaining shares to Fiat. Besides, Chrysler Corp hasn't been in control of themselves since the 'merger of equals' with Daimler-Benz (which was, effectively a takeover) back in 1998. After that it was Cerberus Capital Management (who led the company to bankruptcy). At that point, nobody wanted them except for Fiat. If there were no takers in 2009, the company would have been liquidated and the only thing that probably would have survived would be the Jeep brand (it has a long history of outliving its owners).


How do I feel about it? No differently than I felt about the days of the 'Mercedes' Charger about a decade ago. Besides, the bulk of the engineering and manufacturing for the Chrysler-Jeep-Dodge-Ram brands going to continue to be done in North America. There will be platform sharing with Fiat branded vehicles sure, but that goes both ways. As I understand it, Lancia is effectively going to become re-badged Chryslers. There's also the Fiat Freemont (a Dodge Journey). In the end, while it would have been nice for them to be an all-American company, that wasn't really an option. So if the alternatives are foreign ownership or no Chrysler Corp at all -I'll take foreign ownership.

Also ... there has been talk of Fiat relocating its global headquarters from Italy to the United States. Though that could just some sort of bluff on the part of Sergio in order to get better business conditions back in Italy.

[TheReaper]

I do like the Fiat Challenger 392 and yes I would still buy one.

[Bad@ssCamaro]

I presently own a Dodge and I would like to think that with the merger of DaimlerBenz, it could have only helped in the quality and styling dept. With my present car, I was pleasantly surprised by the "European" interior styling and how ergo and efficient it is. Clean lines and easy to use controls, I must say I'm very impressed with it, it feels like a much more expensive vehicle.

I'm not sure of Fiat's reputation but I would think that whatever their main philosophy is towards cars, it will have an impact on Dodge/Chrysler such as DaimlerBenz had. Hopefully it won't reverse the improvements/perception of some of their vehicle lines have developed over the years.

[Number 3]

Rumor was the government tried to get GM to take on Chrysler in order to get the bankruptcy deal. Boy that could have been a huge mess and cost a lot of jobs as the competing models were done away with. Much better with Fiat. Of course one could argue that Rick Wagoner's horrid deal where they bought in to Fiat for $2 billion and bought themselves out for another $2.5 billion paid for the whole deal.

[shrinkdoc]

Originally Posted by Hamilton2400

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it previously daimlerchrysler, a German owned company?

Yes you are wrong. Daimler just owned a majority part of Chrysler, not 100% of Chrysler.

[shrinkdoc]

Originally Posted by G-Oil Guy

Ding ding ding. We have a winner.

I don't care who owns them, as long as the people who work in the States keep their jobs, which, from the initial looks, Fiat has no plans to change.

I see no winner here as Daimler never owned 100% of Chrysler.

[1olddude]

My Camaro was built in Canada so I can't claim American made either. The world is different than it was 50 years ago.

[G-Oil Guy]

Originally Posted by shrinkdoc

I see no winner here as Daimler never owned 100% of Chrysler.

You're really just arguing semantics now. When the majority share owner is a foreign company who supplies you capital and payroll with which to run your business they're the owners.

They're decisions carry and no one else can over rule them. Hence the term "majority"

Once they ceased being 100% owned or at least 51% majority American owned they became a foreign owned company. Spin it anyway you want but those are the facts.

And as others pointed out in this thread, Chrysler didnt really have a choice in the matter. Would you prefer them to still exist or have gone out of business back in 2007-8 and have all of those American workers lose their jobs?

[Pagliaro]

Originally Posted by 1olddude

My Camaro was built in Canada so I can't claim American made either. The world is different than it was 50 years ago.

As was mine but being Canadian I enjoy that fact. It's still American by terms of North American.

You guys are getting it back for the 6th gen.