How would you save Dodge?

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oh and one more thing i think they need to do..

4) they need to make the company smaller until they get back on their feet. because even if by some miricle they build the perfect car for the perfect price it will take years and years to get those generations of families they lost over the years back. it is definatley not an over night fix... its going to take a long *** time to get back to where they should be.
 
rednesss said:
That's what they said at Bethlehem Steel. Wonder how that worked out for them??
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that had just as much to do with the idiots running the company. they were out of vacation and doing god knows what else with huge expense accounts and crap like that instead of putting money into the company and updating things to stay competitive.
 
7demon2 said:
bring back the neon, daytona, intrepid, aries, and the lebaron...
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No offense but those are some of the cars that I think got them into this mess.

I'm not seeing many old neons, aries, lebarons or old daytonas on the road that still look good. I do see a lot of run down ones that people have let go to hell though.

Maybe as you say if they revamp them with new engine technology etc it might work.

However, in my opinion those cars were the junk that ruined them.
 
Bring back Plymouth.

Back in the Stone Age, Plymouth was where you bought your first Mopar because it was the cheapest one around. You expected a cheap car that was a piece of crap since all you had ever had were used Chevys or Fords. It was a pleasant surprise when your cheap Plymouth turned out to be a really good car. Later on when you wanted some more goodies than Plymouth offered you could step up to Dodge. There you got a taste of performance and when you wanted more you stepped up to DeSoto. When you got tired of that you finally sprung for the top of the line and got a Chrysler. It worked for almost 40 years and the one constant was the longevity and engineering that went into the cars. When you bought a Chrysler product you got a car that would last with minimal repairs and had engineering features that you paid extra for elsewhere if it was available at all.

Put the Fiat derived entry level cars and maybe a stripped down midsize model under the Plymouth brand with very few frills and no options. No air conditioning, no power windows, power door locks, remote entry, power seats with leather, navigation systems, etc. Just an engine, 4 wheels, seats, doors, manual transmission, maybe a radio and that's it. Just what you need to get down the road. Make it as dependable as an anvil and as cheap to own as possible. If you want more step up to Dodge and if that ain't enough move on up to Chrysler.

And for God's sake get real on option pricing. Do you expect me to believe that a sunroof or automatic transmission is worth more than my '72 Pinto cost to buy when new?

Never happen, but it's nice to dream.
 
Charrlie_S said:
With all the government reg/requirements, on the cars, there will be no more auto mechanics. There will be Automotive Maintainence Engineers. Or there will be just parts changers, to replace the parts the vehicle itself says to change.
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That is already the case now!!! How many true mechanics do you know? Someone who will actually fix something or some part that is broken. I think its rare to find a mechanic who will give more life to some broken part. Most are spring loaded to sell you new parts to replace the crap that is broken. They are all just parts changers in my opinion. The troubleshooting is being handed over to the computers.
 
grumpuscreature said:
Bring back Plymouth.

Just an engine, 4 wheels, seats, doors, manual transmission, maybe a radio and that's it. Just what you need to get down the road. Make it as dependable as an anvil and as cheap to own as possible.
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Sounds like a Plymouth Valiant :)
 
7demon2 said:
bring back the neon, daytona, intrepid, aries, and the lebaron then get rid of the caliper, avenger, nitro and compass. get rid of the unions, introduce the phoneix engins now! not later. upgrade all cars to standard 5 or 6 speed automatics, stop mass produceing cars and let people actually be able to custom order their car the way they want rather than build all high end cars and wait for someone to buy it. let fiat introduce a good 4 cylinder engine for the neon,aries, lebaron, and daytona as base engines and have the optional phoniex v6 engine be availible.
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Butt ugly! No wonder they're going broke. Like em' or not, how many PT Cruisers do you see each day. Lot's! Why don't they have a 2 door sedan and a panel available? The designer of the PT got hired by GM for their HHR
program. Look how many of those are on the road. But loads too! The little panel trucks are all over the place. Leave the squared off Scion look to the
imports. We can build normal and nostalgia and be successful. toolman
 
abodyjoe said:
that had just as much to do with the idiots running the company. they were out of vacation and doing god knows what else with huge expense accounts and crap like that instead of putting money into the company and updating things to stay competitive.
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Some pepole dont realize that organized labor made this country!!
 
first of all, cut the head off. then find someone that is willing to do the job for less money. CEO's get paid way to much.
then look at the smaller car market. The best MPG is what? the Advenger gets maybe 28 on a good day? maybe little more. Hell the Neon got much better gas mileage for les money.
 
Slick said:
That is already the case now!!! How many true mechanics do you know? Someone who will actually fix something or some part that is broken. I think its rare to find a mechanic who will give more life to some broken part. Most are spring loaded to sell you new parts to replace the crap that is broken. They are all just parts changers in my opinion. The troubleshooting is being handed over to the computers.
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As someone who stood at that computer it takes a technician to be able to read and understand the data, pinpoint the problem, and not just throw parts at it. The computer can only tell you so much. The real guy nowadays is one who can translate the data and repair the problem, not throw parts at it. And the real ones are the ones who write the TSBs. I've written a few in my career, both on the body side and the tech side. The parts replacers in today's lexicon are called mechanics, the guys who know how to use the scanner, successfully, are technicians. And, yes, I also have the real world experience to be able to rebuild a fuel pump, a master cylinder, even wheel cylinders, old vacuum wiper motors, alternators, generators, calipers, proportioning valves, starters, and the list goes on. When parts are available. Go into a parts store and see how many rebuild kits there are for a speed density sensor since we're talking Chrysler.

That being said, I've also noticed the argument going on with union and non-union. My own experience in this comes into play on my reply. As someone who's been in the dealerships making a lot less money per hour than the UAW on flat rate time, taking care of recalls, tracing down pinched wires in a car that has more harness than the original moon mission, tightening loose bolts, fixing welds that weren't welded to anything, and that list goes on and on, too.
Personally, if I had one knock on working at the dealerships was the fact that I got a third of the money per hour, on flat rate time, with less bennies, fixing f***-ups that should have never have taken place by someone on the line who didn't think "quality was job one," just a damned good paycheck! But I guess it was fixing the shoddy workmanship that made my paycheck.
 
Not all union workers get high pay. There are lots of differant unions. I have worked on both sides. Finding managment that supports lower management when they have a set of balls is hard to find. Finding workers that really want to work is also tuff sometimes. A HARD days work for a GOOD days pay is what is needed.
 
Slick said:
No offense but those are some of the cars that I think got them into this mess.

I'm not seeing many old neons, aries, lebarons or old daytonas on the road that still look good. I do see a lot of run down ones that people have let go to hell though.

Maybe as you say if they revamp them with new engine technology etc it might work.

However, in my opinion those cars were the junk that ruined them.
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maybe , but they sold pretty well in the day. if you brought them back as gas miliage type cars then updated them some with todays newer engines they would be alot better. personally i liked the neons. my daily driver intrepid is an awesome car. great on gas and rides solid. i used to drive an aries as a company car for 2 years and drove the snot out of it. it took everything i threw at it and was great on gas. we just got a 94 lebaron vert for the wife and so far love it. gets great gas milage and rides great. never drove a daytona, but always liked the styling back then. if you update it some you could have another sporty great gas mileage car....
 
Slick said:
No offense but those are some of the cars that I think got them into this mess.

I'm not seeing many old neons, aries, lebarons or old daytonas on the road that still look good. I do see a lot of run down ones that people have let go to hell though.

Maybe as you say if they revamp them with new engine technology etc it might work.

However, in my opinion those cars were the junk that ruined them.
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I'm a little insulted by this considering I own an 84 rampage.. haha :-D
 
As for the whole saving dodge part... first thing I would do is ditch the caliber and bring in a 4th generation of neon. Build them a little better and keep the turbo as an option for people that want them... they'll sell.
 
hemizach said:
I'm a little insulted by this considering I own an 84 rampage.. haha :-D
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Hahaha don't take it personally. :)

It wasn't just Dodge. There were a lot of bad cars made in the 80's.
 
I do not know what will save Chrysler per say, but I believe if when they brought back the Charger that they should have brought it back in a 2 door model. They would have had more appeal as a 2 door car than a 4 door. I also believe that they need to bring back the Plymouth line of vehicles and not the Horizon's etc... The old Muscle car Plymouth's were some of the most beautiful vehicles ever produced and even though they were considered gas guzzlers, they could have carried on the R/T Duster, Volare, Satellite, Dart, etc..... These and Dodge's mainstay muscle cars are what made Chrysler the most dominate force on the roads back in the late 60's early 70's Maybe this would not have worked but I believe that the muscle car concept that was abandoned by Chrysler in the mid to early 80's really hurt the company and look at all the IROC's and Mustangs and Firebird's that were sold through all those years, What did Chrysler have to compete with these cars? Nothing!!!!! I feel that if they had offered some real muscle machines in these years that they would have been better off financially. Who knows what will happen now. It is so sad to know that such a great American Icon is now merely a shell of what it used to be.
 
AZ340 said:
Some pepole dont realize that organized labor made this country!!
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Yeah, well the unions have done a lot to ruin it too. They've been in bed with the big spending, corrupt Democratic machine for longer anyone can remember. Labor unions have a role to play for workers, but they need to stay out of politics.
 
hemizach said:
I predict this thread ending up in the political forum here soon.
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It's interesting you say that because that is probably the root of the problem.

Car making has become far too intertwined with politics.
 
How to save Dodge? Easy ... build something that somebody wants and sell it for a price that somebody can afford.

I'd love a new Challenger but can't afford it.

The Dodge vehicles that I might be able to afford don't appeal to me.

Not a good sales strategy in my opinion.
 
grumpuscreature said:
Bring back Plymouth.

Put the Fiat derived entry level cars and maybe a stripped down midsize model under the Plymouth brand with very few frills and no options. No air conditioning, no power windows, power door locks, remote entry, power seats with leather, navigation systems, etc. Just an engine, 4 wheels, seats, doors, manual transmission, maybe a radio and that's it. Just what you need to get down the road. Make it as dependable as an anvil and as cheap to own as possible. If you want more step up to Dodge and if that ain't enough move on up to Chrysler.

And for God's sake get real on option pricing. Do you expect me to believe that a sunroof or automatic transmission is worth more than my '72 Pinto cost to buy when new?
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Damn true! I can't go to any dealer and order a manual steering non/ac no power locks nor windows because options are by packages. Damn! I don't want to pay for a satellite radio system or heated seats when I'm never gonna use those.
 
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