So what does it mean? There will be, of course, a share of people whose knee-jerk reaction will be negative towards a European company controlling one of the big three. Some may not consider Chrysler vehicles to be "true" American cars as a result. But let's consider a few points:
1. Chrysler needed this.
After years of mismanagement from a variety of partnerships such as Daimler, parent company of Mercedes followed by Cerebus, a capital management firm, Chrysler needed something. They were consistently the third of the big three and had little to compete with foreign manufacturers like Honda and Toyota. Take for instance the Dodge Ram truck from 2006-2008. Customer comments were most often using the three words: Cheap, Plastic, & Ugly.
Since Ram changed all of that in 2009 with it's complete turn-around of the half ton truck with the heavy duties to follow suit a year later. And again in 2011, radical refreshes of the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Dodge Durango, Dodge Charger, Dodge Grand Caravan, Dodge Avenger, Chrysler 300 and the unveil of the 200 to replace the defunct Sebring wowed the markets.
And not just the interiors were redone. One of the largest improvements was the 3.6L Pentastar V6 which provided outstanding performance increases AND huge fuel economy increases. For example the Jeep went from a 3.8L to a 3.6LWrangler went from 202 bhp and 15/19 city highway fuel economy to 285 bhp and 17/21 fuel economy. Gains like this happened across the board from vehicles equipped with the Pentastar, an engine that ironically, was nearly killed by Daimler during the partnership.
2. Europeans can build quality cars.
Everyone loves muscle cars here in the states. They embody raw power and have a carnal appeal of being about performance and nothing else. Unrefined, aggressive, and powerful. Well that's all well and good, but lets name off a few European car companies and see if we think performance or not: Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Porsche, Jaguar, Lotus, Aston Martin, McClaren, Lamborgini, Maserati, and Ferrari.
Think any of those are gracing the walls of American teenagers? Only all of them. Yes they're all extremely expensive, but so what? The point is that these companies are at the forefront of automotive engineering, producing some of the best vehicles the planet has ever seen. Lessons learned producing supercars and even race cars can find their way onto the street. Case in point = the HEMI engine. Oh and by the way, those last two companies on that listare owned by FIAT.
3. It's already showing results.
Chrysler group is showing ridiculous success, including a 11% increase year over year in February (seen here ). Jeep is exploding with the 47th (!!!!) consecutive month of sales growth, including a whopping 47% year over year for February. Awards are stacking up. The Grand Cherokee is the most awarded SUV ever, Chrysler group vehicles have stacked up multiple Ward's 10 best engine awards (3.6L Pentastar & 3.0 Ecodiesel), Ward's 10 best interiors, not to mention the very first Back-to-back MOTORTREND Truck of the Year.
4. Competition is good, no GREAT
Chrysler is surging across the board, taking up gobs of market share in nearly every class of vehicle. Technology like the HEMI V8, Ecodiesel V6, 8 and 9 speed transmissions, adaptive cruise control, parallel and perpendicular parking systems among others are forcing other companies to truly innovate in order to stay competitive. I for one, can't wait to see what everyone come up with. For example, Ford has rolled the dice on a high risk high reward change to aluminum bodies. Whoever wins, the American consumer wins more.
