The heyday of Chrysler seems lengthy gone.
A sequence of mergers has turned the once-ubiquitous Chrysler Company into a bit of the bigger Euro-American automaker Stellantis. As soon as a comparatively diversified brand, with sedans, SUVs and even a convertible, Chrysler now has solely two models, each of them totally different variations of the identical minivan.
The Chrysler model sold nearly 600,000 vehicles in 2005. In 2024, it sold fewer than 125,000 — an 80% decline in 20 years.
“Chrysler as a model has been very, very, underinvested in for a lot of, a few years now,” mentioned Ed Kim, president and chief analyst of AutoPacific, an automotive advertising analysis and product-consulting agency.
In July 2024, Stellantis mentioned it would consider killing brands that weren’t making money.
That alarmed Frank Rhodes Jr., a descendant of Walter P. Chrysler, who founded the company in 1925.
“The CEO mentioned that they have been going to probably unload some manufacturers that weren’t performing,” Rhodes mentioned. “And I would heard that earlier than and I simply mentioned, ‘I’ve had sufficient.'”
In August, Rhodes proposed putting together an investor group to buy the Chrysler and Dodge manufacturers from Stellantis.
However the firm mentioned none of its brands are for sale.
“I feel he was planting a seed or making a suggestion that if the intention was to not put money into Chrysler or Dodge going ahead, that maybe one other path might be an investor group buying the manufacturers from Stellantis and ensuring that they stay on for the long run,” mentioned Chrysler model CEO Christine Feuell. “However I can guarantee you that each manufacturers have a very brilliant future within the Stellantis portfolio.”
It is not the primary time there have been rumors of Chrysler’s demise. Studies the model is on the chopping block have surfaced many occasions before.
“Chrysler model is right here to remain,” Feuell mentioned. “It’s being properly invested in. The model isn’t on the desk for elimination, and it has a really brilliant future.”
This future features a new model of its minivan, which as of January 2025 was its solely automobile, offered below two names. The Voyager is the lower-priced mannequin, and the Pacifica is a extra premium possibility. A refreshed Pacifica is slated for 2026, with a brand new exterior design and new powertrain choices.
Chrysler can also be planning to launch a big SUV and a coupe or sedan primarily based on the Halcyon concept it unveiled in 2024.
It could’t come quickly sufficient for followers of the model, together with Rhodes.
“I do know there’s individuals on the market that need to convey this model, these manufacturers again, and so they have to be saved,” he mentioned. “It is a part of our American heritage.”
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