Chrysler Lays Out Its Lineup in Detail From Now Until 2018

Posted by Jeff Perez 

@ BOLD RIDE                          

A few days back, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) got together a few members of the press, sat them down, and gave a highly-detailed, highly-logical explanation on essentially what they need to do to be better. Most of this presentation surrounded trimming off some of the unnecessary ‘fat’ in the lineup, in place of a more streamlined, easier to manage set of cars and brands. And trim they did.

Killing Off Of SRT (As A Stand-Alone Brand)

In 2013, Chrysler announced the spinoff of SRT as a separate entity from Dodge, in order to produce the new Viper, and possibly a Barracuda. Ralph Gilles would soon become CEO, with a healthy team in place to remind everyone that Chrysler can mean performance. But that performance dream was pretty short-lived.

A few days ago it was told that Chrysler would be ending SRT’s run as a stand-alone brand in the portfolio, returning it to Dodge’s official performance moniker. And with this, the new and improved Viper would also be re-placed under the Dodge umbrella. You’re welcome, enthusiasts.

Building A Hotter Dart, And A Less-Hot 300



With SRT shifting focus and going back to its roots on the Dodge lineup, that meant that some of the SRT performance models needed to be sacrificed. The first to go would be the low-volume 300 SRT, in place of a more sellable Dart SRT (which everyone has been begging for anyways). As far as we know, the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT will be staying, for now, as well as the Challenger SRT and Charger SRT, of course.

Chrysler Autos Showing New Face

For the standard Chrysler lineup we’re bound to see new vehicles like a 100 slotted under the current 200, and a facelifted 300. Both of these new(ish) vehicles will be headed to showrooms sometime between 2016 and 2018.
Other news from Chrysler Autos included the introduction of a more efficient Town and Country plug-in (also in 2016), and a new full-size crossover in 2017.

Jeep Stays True To Its Roots



As for Jeep, Chrysler didn’t signify much of a change to the current lineup. Yes, we will see fresh new faces on the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee come 2017, but the real news is the re-release of the Grand Wagoneer in 2018.
All you hard-core Jeep faithful should enjoy that.

When it was all said and done, Chrysler had a well thought out plan on exactly what they needed to do to compete. Unfortunately for some, it meant the transferring of research and production back over to bigger brands. But for others, it would seem a brighter future is on the way.

Let’s just hope all this promising stands the test of time.