How would you save the Chrysler brand?

Jalopnik recently took a walk on the clickbaity side by asking readers how they would save Chrysler: The brand. The post by Rory Carroll (2021) elicited the usual range of responses, from earnestly mundane to the ridiculous. Here are my three favorite takes followed by my own views.

I suspect that Rollin Hand (2021) was onto something big when he suggested, “Corinthianer and Corinthianest leather. That way you can still go upmarket two levels.”

Meanwhile, the Idiot who sold e39 m5 (2021) made an even more astute suggestion: “Hellcat EV SUV. I’m not sure how it would work, I’m just the ideas man.”

Those two were great but the Grand Prize clearly goes to hoser68 (2021):

“Here’s the plan. Announce that you have hired me, a complete industry outsider to revamp the entire image of Chrysler. Make it international news how innovative and out-side the box I am. Then tomorrow when the fact that 90% of my posts on Jalopnik have been either fart jokes or Beavis and Butthead GIFs. Make international news again by firing me. Then make the News again by hiring some boring person.

Look at how this works. Outside of the 90+ year old crowd, who has heard of Chrysler? This will make international news 4 times in a week (hiring, discovery of the GIFs, firing, and hiring replacement).

I am fully prepared to be the ex-CEO of Chrysler (with the golden parachute that that involves).” 

What goes around comes around?

On a more serious note, one of the more prominent suggestions in the Jalopnik comment thread was to kill off the Chrysler brand. This was a sad thought for me because I had just been reading about the automaker’s formative years, as told by Charles K. Hyde (2003).

That said, the Chrysler brand did emerge from a period of volatile change somewhat similar to what characterizes today’s shift to electric vehicles.

Here’s the storyline: In 1919 Walter P. Chrysler stepped down from managing the Buick Division of General Motors and moved over to Willys-Overland. A year later, the same bankers who tapped him to revive that bankrupt automaker asked him to lead the ailing Maxwell Motor Corporation. The latter automaker was having a variety of troubles, including a money-losing tie up with the Chalmers Motor Corporation. One of Chrysler’s first moves was to launch a new car named after himself — and then rename the company.

Also see ‘Data suggest 1969-73 Chrysler was neither a disaster nor a success’

One could argue that there is more of a reason to mourn the potential demise of the Chrysler brand than Maxwell or Chalmers because it has survived much longer. Nevertheless, what would be the point of keeping Chrysler around when it sold only 110,000 units in 2020? That represented only 6.1 percent of total Fiat Chrysler sales — down from 14.5 percent in 2015. Chrysler has become the 21st Century’s answer to the ill-fated Maxwell.

Will Stellantis clean house in the United States?

Fiat Chrysler’s new corporate overseer, Stellantis, has an interesting challenge: What to do with a roster of so many low-selling brands. Chrysler may have pumped out more vehicles than Alfa Romeo and Fiat in recent years, but it has a less obvious pipeline of new products.

It would make sense for Stellantis to maximize its economies of scale by selling as much of its lineup as possible in both Europe and America. An America-only big truck platform can presumably be justified because of its high volume and profitability. To a lesser but plausible degree one could make the same argument for a minivan. However, an updated Chrysler 300 does not sound promising unless it shared a significant number of components with European offerings.

Also see ‘1965-69 Chrysler: Selling prestige in a changing culture’

Is the sedan market still big enough to justify distinctive sheetmetal for a 300? If not, would a badge-engineered 300 — a classic American nameplate — make sense if it was slapped on a thinly disguised French car? Or a crossover vehicle that might more logically be badged a Dodge or an Alfa Romero?

Perhaps most intriguingly, how might the industry’s shift to electric vehicles influence Stellantis’ decisions around branding? My guess is that Chrysler may be seen as a transitional brand — much like Walter Chrysler apparently saw the Maxwell — that gets phased out as Stellantis integrates its U.S. and European product planning.

NOTES:

U.S. sales figures are from carsalesbase.com (2021).

Share your reactions to this post with a comment below or a note to the editor.

---

RE:SOURCES

• Carroll, Rory; 2021. “How Would You Save Chrysler?” Jalopnik. posted Feb. 9; accessed Feb. 9.
• carsalesbase.com; 2020. Accessed Feb. 9.
• hoser68; 2021. Commentator in “How Would You Save Chrysler?” Jalopnik. posted 1:05 p.m, Feb. 9; accessed Feb. 9.
• Hyde, Charles K.; 2003. Riding The Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation. Wayne State University Press, Detroit, MI.
• Idiot who sold e39 m5; 2021. Commentator in “How Would You Save Chrysler?” Jalopnik. posted 12:52 p.m, Feb. 9; accessed Feb. 9.
• Rollin Hand; 2021. Commentator in “How Would You Save Chrysler?” Jalopnik. posted 1:15 p.m, Feb. 9; accessed Feb. 9.

ADVERTISING & BROCHURES:

• oldcaradvertising.com: Chrysler (1924)