Fiat-Chrysler is embarking on a new adventure as part of an updated five-year business plan that CEO Sergio Marchionne outlined in a recent presentation with investors. As with most updates of this type, changes have been made in the direction of the company and two models, the Dodge Dart and the Chrysler 200, have become unwitting casualties.
According to Marchionne, FCA will begin focusing its energy and resources into building more trucks and utility vehicles in response to what he describes as a “permanent shift in demand” in the market. Unfortunately for both the Dart and the 200, the pedestrian sales numbers of both cars made them expendable and with no signs in the horizon of both models improving their appeal to the public. FCA is now preparing its shovels for the two vehicles arguably untimely deaths.
With the Dart and the 200 out of the picture, FCA can realign its facilities to accommodate the production of more Jeep and Ram models. The company’s plants in Illinois where the Dart and the 200 were being built will now be used to increase the production of the Jeep Cherokee and Ram 1500.
It’s an ignominious exit for both models, especially for the Dart, which only returned to the automotive scene in 2012 after not being around since 1976. Dodge even had huge plans for the model at the time of its supposed comeback, even going so far as building numerous race and concept variants. But with the model turning out to be a sales dud, parent company FCA has deemed it – and the 200 – as baggage that it doesn’t want to carry moving forward.
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