Three engines, three transmissions, 12 exterior colours, 14 interior colours and 113,000 different build configurations. Priceless? Not this new car.
The 2013 Dodge Dart, for all its complexity, will start at around $16,000 or less when it hits dealer showrooms later this year. And if you were looking for tangible evidence of the future of Chrysler Group products under Fiat ownership, look no further than this compact sedan.
Squint hard at the bread-and-butter Dodge and you might even see what’s underneath: an enlarged version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta. That’s good. The Giulietta is gorgeous and, while it would be a stretch to say the same of the reincarnation of the Dart, the newest and most important Dodge to date sits boldly, with a balanced stance and lovely details such as the Dodge Charger's “racetrack” taillight assembly and dual exhausts.
“We weren’t competing in this segment,” said Chrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland, who is also head of the Dodge brand. “Now we will be competing in the most important segment of the market in Canada.”
The Dart is much more than four wheels and four doors in an affordable size, though. The Dart is a massive step forward for Chrysler: By announcing the Dart in Detroit at this year’s January auto show, Fiat’s stake in Chrysler automatically increased to 58.8 per cent.
And not long after showing the Dart for the first time, along came another indication of progress in the reinvention of Chrysler: after a net loss of $652-million (U.S.) last year, the Chrysler Group said its full-year 2011 net income improved to $183-million – that despite a $551 million loss on paying off debt.
Worldwide vehicle sales were up 22 per cent in 2011. Canadian sales were up 12.5 per cent and market share jumped to 14.5 per cent from 13.1 per cent. U.S. market share hit 10.5 per cent, from 9.2 per cent a year ago, driven by a 43 per cent increase in U.S. retail sales.
“It’s hard work, but these are exciting times at Chrysler,” says Bigland.
As Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in an e-mail to employees made public in The Detroit News, the company has “successfully changed the conversation from Chrysler's survival to products and services that consumers expect and want from a great American auto maker.”
He added, “What's past is prologue. The stage is set for another critical year in our drive to transform Chrysler.”
He also warned employees about the need to “understand that there is a great deal of work ahead of us. Our effort to create a viable global car company is still a work in progress, with most of the paint still on the palette.”
It would be fair to say that if the Dart succeeds, Chrysler succeeds. The newest small Dodge is a symphony of complexity in comparison to other new models from other auto makers. For instance, as The Wall Street Journal notes, Volkswagen’s planners worked hard to limit their new Passat to just 15 possible equipment configurations. When paint variations are multiplied in, the Passat increases to around 150 configurations.
Moreover, the new Passat is the product of one fully integrated brand, while the Dart is a blend of elements from Chrysler and its Fiat partner. Stylish as it may be, the Dart will be difficult to build and equally tricky to sell to consumers who generally want simplicity in their vehicles.
Consider the suite of three available engines, though all are small and efficient four-cylinders. A 1.4-litre, 160-hp turbocharged unit, for instance, that can be paired with a dual-clutch automatic transmission and two other gearboxes.
The Dart will also have some very fancy features, including a thin-film transistor (TFT) instrument display. This allows the driver to configure the graphics. The central console will have an oversize touch screen rife with apps and connectivity based on Chrysler's UConnect interface. And the Dart is big for its class, with a spacious cabin, thick-bolstered seats and LED lighting.
