Chrysler Just Killed Itself

Well, that headline isn’t exactly right. Stellantis – the parent company of Chrysler (as well as the Dodge, Jeep an Ram truck brands) – just killed Chrysler.

As you probably already know, Chrysler has been dying for the past three years. The brand is down to just one model – the Pacifica minivan – because Stellantis decided to cancel the 300 sedan that arguably was the Chrysler brand for many years. It went away at the end of the 2023 model year – which was when Stellantis pulled the plug (so to speak) on the Dodge Charger sedan, which was the shared-platform vehicle the 300 was based on and introduced an electric Charger coupe that literally had to be plugged in. It sold like leprosy, in part because not many people want to plug in and also because the thing had a base price that was about $20,000 higher to start than the last (2023) gas-engined Charger sedan. The fact that it was only available as a two-door compounded the problem because coupes are a harder sell, even when they have engines (because they are less practical than sedans and most people need a practical car).

Chrysler was left with nothing – other than the Pacifica. Which probably ought to have been a Dodge anyhow – because minivans are the most practical of all vehicles and so selling one with a luxury-badge (and price) limited the prospective market to older empty-nester types. The current Pacifica starts around $44k. Back when Dodge sold basic family-hauler minivans such as the Caravan – last available in ’07 or about $19k to start – Dodge sold a lot of them.

Anyhow, it looks like Stellantis is going to rebadge some Fiats (Stellantis also owns that brand) and try to sell them as Chryslers. This is what’s going to end Chrysler, probably – because these rebadged Fiats are crossovers. They are apparently going to be called the Arrow and the Arrow Cross and they are basically re-skinned iterations of the Fiat Grizzly, a small crossover that Fiat will sell in Europe.

Just what the market’s been clamoring for . . . another couple of small crossovers (that aren’t even Chryslers).

Has Stellantis learned nothing from the Hornet debacle over at Dodge? Does anyone remember the Hornet? It’s been dropped from the Dodge roster, in part because the cost of Trump’s tariffs (which made this rebadged Alfa – another brand under the Stellantis umbrella) too expensive to sell here) but also because it wasn’t selling. Not because it’s a bad little crossover – you can read my review of it here – but because it fits in the Dodge lineup like lederhosen on an Eskimo. Dodge’s brand identity is not “euro.” It is boldly, distinctly American. The Charger – not the device – defined that brand. It was so American it’s surprising its fasteners weren’t standard rather than metric. In any case, its big car, rear-drive/front engine layout and V6/V8 lineup certainly were as American as it gets.

And so was the 300, the luxury iteration of the same thing. It was the un-Camry. The big sedan for Americans who wanted a big – and luxurious – American sedan rather than a front-drive sedan from Japan (or an overpriced luxury sedan from Germany). The 300 – when it was last available back in 2023 – came standard with a 3.6 liter V6 for $34,295. A same year Mercedes-Benz E350 sedan came standard with a 2.0 liter four and stickered for $56,750. (It is worth noting that Mercedes did not alter the badging to reflect the downgrade; i.e., why not “E250” rather than E350? Of course everyone knows why. No one trying to sell you less for more advertises the fact.)

The 300 was both brash and a bargain. It was also arguably better in many ways than generally similar (but much more expensive) Euro-luxury brand sedans like the Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series, etc. It was certainly – inarguably – different and that’s an advantage when you are trying to sell something. There’s not much advantage in trying to sell another crossover because everyone else already has a crossover to sell. Many of these are brands closely associated with crossovers. Chrysler has no history with crossovers. If Dodge can’t sell a rebadged Alfa crossover, what makes Stellantis believe that Chrysler can sell rebadged Fiat crossovers?

Meanwhile, there is a way to save Chrysler.

Dodge is in the process of trying to save itself, by offering the Charger as both a sedan and a coupe – and with an engine, too. Why not take the current Charger sedan, lux it up and sell it (with the new inline 3.0 liter straight six) as the new 300? The 3.0 liter inline six would be ideal in a Chrysler 300; much more so than under the hood of a Dodge Charger (which ought to come with a V8, because the Charger is supposed to be a muscle car and no matter how powerful a six is, it can never be the right engine for a muscle car). The six is smooth and quiet and powerful, too. It’s what’s available in the current Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series. If Chrysler were to offer it as standard – and for $20k less than what Benz and BMW want for something similar – with that handsome new body draped over it, the thing would likely sell.

It could save Chrysler.

Instead, it looks like the last Chryslers will be reskinned/rebadged Fiat crossovers. It’s a sad way to go out.

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