Made in USA, or not

[lowend1]

Well, thank goodness for Fiat then. 

The new Chrysler: let's see, with Fiat's legendary reliability, 55% ownership by the UAW, questionable financing and an army of pissed-off soon-to-be-ex-dealerships, what could possibly go wrong? 

I'm by no means happy about any of this, especially the way the UAW has benefited from it. I have no problem with workers owning the company, but unions...? I read last week that they have agreed not to strike until 2015. I almost laughed at the headline!
The Fiat aspect doesn't bother me as much. I can't see it being any worse than the cornholing that Chrysler took from Daimler with that "merger of equals".
Actually, it's kind of refreshing to see the dealers getting hosed for a change. Most of the ones getting the boot probably deserve it - at least based on the list from my area. Even as a person who buys used, er, preowned vehicles, being at the dealership is usually a degrading experience at best.

[Pilgrim]

I was never a "domestic only" car buyer.  I buy what I like and country of manufacture is simply immaterial to me - and to most of the car buying public, I think. 

My dad had a 1959 Mercedes sedan when I was in high school. I still have the 1958 Fiat 1200 roadster that was my high school graduation gift (it was never my regular driver).  I bought a '66 GTO, when it was wrecked (by the other driver) I got an Olds Cutlass, sold that for a '71 240Z, then a '77 Chevy Monza Spyder with a 305 V-8, then a '76 280Z, then an Audi and an '82 280ZX. 

My wife and I have driven Audi, BMW and Datsun (not Nissan) for years.  We have a '99 Chevy Blazer - one daughter has a '91 Camaro convertible, the other has a '99 Jeep.

I saw my first new Camaro on the way home from dinner tonight.  I need to take a longer look, but I wasn't impressed.  My memory from a 3-second view is that hood was 6 inches too high and the grille looked like a cartoon.  I'll give it a longer look soon.

If the domestic auto makers want to compete, they have to do better. Mechanically, their cars are as good as the imports but their styling and marketing stinks.  I'd LOVE to see Chrysler and Fiat connected - it will be better for both, and Fiat makes cars that the US needs because the domestic makers don't have the clangers to market economical cars with style.

[lowend1]

I'm what I'll call a practical purist. I'm strictly Chrysler-propelled, but won't drive any of the rebadged/rebodied stuff (like the Crossfire, which was a Benz SLK in a Chrysler skin) or anything that has something other than a Chrysler mill (Mitsu 2.6L K-Bodies, early V6 minivans, anything with the "World" engine). I am, however open to some foreign-based component design - the tranny and rear in my '06 Charger are both Mercedes designs, and are markedly better than the Chrysler equivalents at this point in time. Now if they were still building the TorqueFlite, I'd be singing a different tune...

[Denis]

Yay, Torqueflite... 

I'll stick with my USA built '91.5 Dodge W250 4x4 with the Cummins Turbodiesel. I think Chrysler we doing okay until DB got hold of them and came out with 5000 hideous Jeep models, the super boring minivans, and some of those mid-sized Chrysler sedans.

[eb2]

A little seasoning in the Mopar stew is that the dealers who have gotten the axe are now fire-sale bound on their Chryslers.  They now own them - no returns, shifts or credit.  So the whole stock will be moved as fast as possible.  Loss is gurarnteed, so they want the dollars in the bank at 2009 levels as opposed to paying off loans in double digit inflation dollars in the coming years.  Another fine development of the best and the brightest running the show from Washington is they have mandated that Chrysler cut its marketing budget to the quick.  Apparently they feel it really isn't worth the company's while to try to market or maintain any sense of market presense during this process.  But they are smart and this is "change."

Truth be told, the minivan they cooked up last year was a world beater.  They were probably resting on their laurels for a couple of years too long, and lost a lot of share to Toyota.  But too little, too late.