After breaking off from Dodge to become it’s own self-sustaining brand under the Chrysler Group, Ram decided to kick things off with a new advertising campaign that’s centered on the new brand’s introduction - or re-introduction - to the American truck market.
The new spot, which is titled ’Manifesto’, will feature a bombardment of still photos that comes with a deliberate narration of how the new ’Ram’ is supposed to be ’fueled by optimism’ and boasting of a ’can-do spirit’.
On the first night of its release, the ad ran a total of 190 times in various networks, giving all those glued to their TV sets a first-hand look at the new Ram and how - as it says so frequently in the spot - it’s tank is full.
After struggling for the past year with sputtering sales, Chrysler has bounced back from its mediocre run and is looking to reinvent itself to once again become a major driving force in the US auto industry.
And according to patent filings done by the company at the US Patent and Trademark Office, it looks like one of the first steps Chrysler is taking towards the road to redemption is changing their company’s logo.
Over the years, the company hasn’t been shy in changing their logo. Before today, the last change occurred just last year after the company decided to tweak their previous logo to ‘The New Chrysler’. Less than a year after that logo was made, the company has decided to completely change it to a winged logo that has a blue emblem in the middle with the word ‘Chrysler’ spread across it.
Now, Chrysler has yet to confirm the change in the company’s logo, but they’ve also announced that there will be a press briefing tomorrow so you can expect that at some point during the whole event, the topic of the impending logo change will crop up.
In the meantime, check out the history of the Chrysler logo from its inception in the 1950’s to the latest one that will – supposedly – be announced tomorrow.
General Motors may be in the works of introducing an in-car Internet service for a number of its brands, but Chrysler is mixing in their cars with some technological firsts of their own, namely, in-car live television.
The FLO TV Auto Entertainment, as it has come to be known, will be offered by Chrysler through its Mopar aftermarket unit in over 100 metro areas, as well as a number of interstate highways. The in-car live TV service goes for$629 with a monitor unit coming in the form of a seven-inch DVD screen courtesy of Audiovox. FLO TV also comes with up to 20 different channels, including the likes of CBS, CNBC, Comedy Central, Fox
News, MSNBC, MTV, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon; it remains to be seen whether new channels and programs will be added in the future.
Those interested in availing the new feature for their Chryslers will be given a free 12-month subscription with a monthly subscription – Chrysler is pegging the number to be around $9 per month, depending on how negotiations with FLO TV progresses - kicking in after the one year free period expires.
The in-car live television feature for Chrysler vehicles is just the latest technological advancement in the pursuit of bombarding cars with as much entertainment as possible. GM’s in-car Internet service was the first salvo and, thanks to the in-car live TV feature, Chrysler has given GM a pretty resounding response.
While General Motors and Ford seem to be on the right track to re-establishing their brands in America, the same cannot be said for Chrysler.
In a recent survey highlighting vehicle quality, Chrysler seems to have fallen way short compared to its two other American competitors. It’s another blow to a company that, like GM and Ford, is trying to regain its foothold in America.
After a series of bad decisions, which was aggravated by the global economic crisis, it seems that Chrysler would – or should - have done something, especially in terms of producing high-quality vehicles, before the whole thing went into a tailspin.
The alarming figures for Chrysler begin with the fact that more than half of its cars were rated below Consumer Reports’ testing and subscriber survey. Compounding the situation even more is that this particular survey is one of the largest running surveys on vehicle quality. This year alone, the magazine has collected responses on 1.4 million vehicles.
Even if the American automaker Chrysler’s future doesn’t sound so bright, the company has just announced that the PT Cruiser will continue to be produced. The PT is being made at the Chrysler’s Toluca Mexico Facility and will continue to be built there.
“The heritage-styled Chrysler PT Cruiser continues to be a global success story,” said Peter Fong – President and Chief Executive Officer – Chrysler Brand and Lead Executive for the Sales Organization, Chrysler Group LLC. “With more than 1.3 Million PT Cruisers sold in more than 60 countries since 2000, we’re excited to announce we’re re-energizing the iconic and award-winning PT Cruiser.”
It can be argued that Steven Rattner, the head of US President Barack Obama’s auto task force was the person responsible for saving the US auto industry. After all, he was the one who oversaw the bankruptcies of both GM and Chrysler and he was the one who initiated the bail-out plan that ultimately saved both companies from extinction.
And now, after only six months on the job, Rattner has decided to call it a day, filing his resignation, which was announced by the White House last Monday. Rattner’s decision - he said was brought about because he wanted to go back home to his family in New York – has resulted in talks that he relinquished his post due to an investigation regarding an investment scandal.
According to the Associated Press, Rattner has become the subject if an investigation with regards to a state pension fund that provides numerous benefits to more than a million government employees. That, of course, comes at the heels of another controversy involving Rattner and his association – he’s an investor - with Cerberus Capital Management, which, incidentally was the former owner of Chrysler.
This is a television ad from the Ad Hoc Committee of Consumer Victims of GM and Chrysler urging the President and Members of Congress to make sure consumers are still protected from defective Chrysler and GM vehicles. Those are some pretty harsh words being spoken to the American automakers. It’s enough to make you think twice.
In times like this, any form of good news is reason enough for auto manufacturers to jump for joy. So when word came out that J.D. Power and Associates, a marketing and consulting company, released their annual study of vehicle quality and gave flowering remarks to Ford, GM, and Chrysler, you could imagine that these three manufacturers pumping their fists in excitement.
With word coming out from the consulting company that the three automakers have made marked improvements on the quality of their vehicles compared to last year, a collective sigh of relief could be heard coming from Detroit.
Yet despite this vote of confidence, the study also revealed that the three local brands have a lot more work to do before it can catch up to its foreign competitors.
After Fiat has bought Chrysler, the first decision is to replace the models that are considered as being unsuccessful in Chrysler line-up: Sebring and Avenger. Both models will be replaced by a model based on the Chrysler 200C EV.
Production version could be based on either the LX platform that was used for the concept and that can be built in both rear-wheel and all-wheel drive configurations. The second choice is Fiat’s D-Evo platform used for the 2011 replacement for the Alfa Romeo 159.
Sources say Chrysler is interested in the shortened LX platform and would not necessarily build the concept as shown. Also, the D-Evo suspension would likely be used on the LX platform. But if the concept was rear-drive, the production version could be a FWD model, because a RWD model is not good for the fuel economy.
Finally, the truth comes out. When dissecting the U.S. Government’s decision to bail out both General Motors and Chrysler from the mountain of debt they have incurred throughout the years, it’s easy to point out that Uncle Sam could’ve had ulterior motives in doing this. Perhaps a national stake in ownership of the future automotive conglomerates is what they are looking for?
Yet, when you look at the big picture – we mean the really big picture – you’ll understand that there was a lot more to the deal than meets the eye. Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. nailed the bull right between the eyes when he said that it wouldn’t just be GM and the pentastar that would suffer if the government hadn’t decided to step up and rescue them. According to Ford the second, the entire automobile industry would’ve taken a very, very serious hit. “It would have been so catastrophic to have a supply-base meltdown because it would have brought down all the auto manufacturers and frankly some other industries as well," Ford Jr. told CNBC TV.
“The United States would’ve been in a lot of trouble if Chrysler and GM were left for dead.”
In so many words, Ford even went as far as saying that the entire U.S. economy would have plummeted if Chrysler and the General went under. If the government hadn’t taken the steps it did, then the bankruptcies would’ve caused a complicated – and maybe cataclysmic – chain of events that would lead to other industries filing their own Chapter 11s, the most affected industries being those with vested interests in the auto industry, including those who supply both GM and Chrysler with the parts they need to build their lineup of cars. It’s a simple case of supply and demand. When there’s absolutely no demand for these parts, why even bother generating any supplies.
It’s easy for all the skeptics to point out that the US government only made the move bailout the automakers for their own self-serving interests; but Henry Ford Jr couldn’t have made the truth clearer when he said, “The United States would’ve been in a lot of trouble if Chrysler and GM were left for dead.”
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