With the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200 heading out of the window, FCA is looking for somebody to help them develop and build a new generation of front-wheel drive cars. Things are not working out, though.
According to AutoNews, the company’s boss, Sergio Marchionne, said that FCA is still looking “for a cost-effective solution”, to replace the Dodge Dart and Chrysler 200. Although the four-door sedans’ demise was announced this year, in January, the automaker still hasn’t managed to come up with two suitable replacements.
“[We] have nothing to announce because we haven’t finalized anything. Our search for a front-wheel-drive passenger car solution to deal with very much of an American problem has got limited impact on our ambitions. But it’s a matter of time. We will find somebody”, said Marchionne at FCA’s third-quarter conference call last month.
In FCA’s quest of achieving €9 billion (~$10 billion) in profits by 2018, Marchionne plans on finding somebody willing to build the FWD models, while the American car company will concentrate on a structural change:
“I think we’ve adapted our industrial footprint to reflect what we consider to be a permanent change and I think we need to rely on the economies of scale and capital deployed and invested by others to give us the desired objective”, said Marchionne.
For now, it seems like Fiat Chrysler is committed towards developing Alfa’s Giorgio platform in order to “preserve the uniqueness of the rear-wheel-drive offering that we have across fundamentally four brands which are Alfa, Maserati, Dodge and potentially Jeep” – as the CEO explained.
Chrysler 200 and Dodge Dart pictured
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