Their identity was cheap cars with subprime financing. Chrysler group staved off bankruptcy in the late '70s with econo-box captive imports, which kept the company alive long enough to develop their home-grown budget K-Car series. Ever since, Chrysler group's bread-and-butter has been economy cars like the Neon - up until the 2008 financial crisis. The near-zero percent interest rates that followed tempted consumers into cars they could never really pay off. Several automakers dropped their economy cars and pushed their customers into big pickups or muscle cars. Jeep pushed "up market" even though their customer base stayed the same. But now that interest rates have returned to historically normal levels, customers can't afford these big pickups, muscle cars, or up-market Jeeps. The solution is simple because it's just repeat of the 1970s: captive import economy cars. Chrysler needs the cheapest Chinese EVs that can pass U.S. safety regulations. The economy on a whole needs a return to affordable automobiles. But instead, Stellantis is hell-bent on turning Dodge and Jeep into up-market brands that their core customer base simply cannot afford.
It is interesting to see Stellantis fumble the ball with their American market. They seem to have the European market handled with Citroen and Fiat offering inexpensive EVs in those markets. I personally would love to see a $25,000 EV that can go 300 miles on a charge here in the US. Aptera is close to those figures but isn't the right fit for every use case.
Their identity was cheap cars with subprime financing. Chrysler group staved off bankruptcy in the late '70s with econo-box captive imports, which kept the company alive long enough to develop their home-grown budget K-Car series. Ever since, Chrysler group's bread-and-butter has been economy cars like the Neon - up until the 2008 financial crisis. The near-zero percent interest rates that followed tempted consumers into cars they could never really pay off. Several automakers dropped their economy cars and pushed their customers into big pickups or muscle cars. Jeep pushed "up market" even though their customer base stayed the same. But now that interest rates have returned to historically normal levels, customers can't afford these big pickups, muscle cars, or up-market Jeeps.
The solution is simple because it's just repeat of the 1970s: captive import economy cars. Chrysler needs the cheapest Chinese EVs that can pass U.S. safety regulations. The economy on a whole needs a return to affordable automobiles. But instead, Stellantis is hell-bent on turning Dodge and Jeep into up-market brands that their core customer base simply cannot afford.
It is interesting to see Stellantis fumble the ball with their American market. They seem to have the European market handled with Citroen and Fiat offering inexpensive EVs in those markets. I personally would love to see a $25,000 EV that can go 300 miles on a charge here in the US. Aptera is close to those figures but isn't the right fit for every use case.
Interesting! I don’t really pay a ton of attention to Stellantis’s EU presence
Nice video man
Thank you!