2014 Chrysler Town & Country on 2040-cars

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For his last act, Marchionne will outline an EV/hybrid roadmap this week

MILAN/LONDON — Fiat Chrysler (FCA) boss Sergio Marchionne is expected to outline new plans for electric and hybrid cars in a strategy presentation on Friday, aiming to ensure the world's seventh-largest carmaker remains in the race in the absence of a merger. The 65-year-old will present FCA's strategy to 2022, his final contribution to the company he turned around and multiplied in value through 14 years of canny dealmaking. After failing to secure a tie-up he said was necessary to manage the costs of producing cleaner vehicles, Marchionne needs to show the group can keep churning out profits on its own, even as emissions rules tighten, SUV competition intensifies and worries around his succession abound. Marchionne had long refused to jump on the electrification bandwagon, saying he would only do so if selling battery-powered cars could be done at a profit. He even urged customers not to buy FCA's Fiat 500e, its only battery-powered model, because he was losing money on each sold. But Tesla's success and the need to comply with tougher emissions rules have forced Marchionne to commit to what he calls "most painful" spending. "FCA is way behind rivals in terms of hybrid and electric vehicles and they need to hit the accelerator to convince investors they can close that gap," said Andrea Pastorelli, a fund manager at 8a+ Investimenti. Germany's Volkswagen, Daimler, BMW and U.S. rivals GM and Ford have committed to spending billions of euros each in coming years to try produce profitable cars powered by cleaner fuels. FCA needs to present a clear roadmap, just like Volvo Cars, which ditched diesel from its best-selling XC60 SUV, launched a new electric brand and pledged to shift all brands to hybrid by 2019, a banking source close to FCA said, noting: "The tech divide determines winners and losers in the industry." Marchionne has already said half of the wider FCA fleet will incorporate some elements of electrification by 2022, while luxury marque Maserati will spearhead FCA's electrification drive by making all new models due after 2019 electric. But its plans remain vaguer and less advanced than most big rivals and some investors wonder about the capital required to make vehicles compliant, and what share of spending can go to electrification given FCA's numerous demands.

Junkyard Gem: 1983 Chrysler Cordoba

When we think of the Chrysler Cordoba, we think of the bloated, Corinthian Leather-equipped Malaisewagon pitched by Ricardo Montalban during the middle 1970s. That car lived on the Chrysler B platform, making it first cousin to the Duke Boys' 1969 Charger plus countless police vehicles in 1970s television shows. Following the downsizing trend of GM and Ford during the second half of the 1970s — and spurred along by certain geopolitical events plus a "too big to fail" government bailout — Chrysler moved the Cordoba onto the much smaller platform used by the Dodge Aspen and Plymouth Volare for the 1980 model year. Production of the smaller Cordoba continued all the way through 1983; sales of these mini-Cordobas were dismal, but I managed to find this final-year survivor in a junkyard near Pikes Peak. I'm pretty sure you could still get Corinthian Leather in the '83 Cordoba, but this car has the base-grade "Monterey" cloth-and-vinyl interior. Production of more modern cars based on the brand-new, front-wheel-drive K platform was in full swing by 1983, so the rear-wheel-drive Cordoba and its siblings (the Imperial and Dodge Mirada) got the axe after that year. American car shoppers could get the closely-related Chrysler Fifth Avenue, Dodge Diplomat, and Plymouth Gran Fury all the way through 1989, though. The sturdy-but-sluggish Slant-6 engine came as standard equipment in the 1983 Cordoba, but this car has the optional 318-cubic-inch (5.2-liter) V8, rated at 130 horsepower when new. Chrysler continued to put 318s (as the 5.2 Magnum) into new trucks all the way through 2003, and the Viper's V10 was based on this engine's architecture. These American Racing aluminum wheels (and their more prestigious Centerline competitors) were serious stuff back in the 1980s. Nowadays, 15" wheels are considered far too small to be worth grabbing at the junkyard, although I'm sure someone will grab these before the car gets eaten by The Crusher. This factory AM/FM stereo radio cost $109 when the car was new (about $290 in 2020 dollars). If you wanted the radio with cassette deck and digital tuning, the cost rose to $402 ($1,070 today). These days, even the most penny-pinching subcompacts get very nice standard-equipment audio systems with Bluetooth or at least an AUX jack for your phone. The padded landau roof succumbed to the elements years ago. Base price on this car started at $9,805 with the V8, or about $26,100 today.

Chrysler 300C John Varvatos Limited Edition returns for 2014 with AWD option

Before last year, many of us car guys had no idea who John Varvatos was. That all changed when the Detroit-native fashion designer lent his talents to the Chrysler 300 to create the snazzy, special-edition 300C John Varvatos models. The fashionable sedan returns for 2014 with two versions (Luxury and Limited), and the only big news here is that the latter model will be getting an optional all-wheel-drive system.
Distinguishing the Luxury and Limited models, the Luxury comes with Platinum exterior accents and is offered in a handful of colors while the Limited gets darker Titanium accents and only comes with a Phantom Black Tri-Coat paint job. Both cars get an exclusive interior design with special leathers, patterns and colors worthy of the designer's name and logo. The JV Edition is the only 300C to offer a V6 engine, but V8 lovers can still opt up for the powerful Hemi engine.
It would appear that the Luxury Edition is already on sale, but you'll have to wait until March for the 2014 JV Limited Edition, which, according to a Chrysler spokesperson, will be "limited from a production timing standpoint." The JV Luxury Edition starts at $41,195 and the Limited Edition will have a starting price of $44,480 (*not including $995 for destination) - both cars can be optioned with all-wheel drive for $2,500. Scroll down for the press release on the 300C John Varvatos Limited Edition.