Are they goners? Pictures of car brands on life support

Who knows? Usually you're just one hit away from big success. Chrysler, in the 80's was on life support before the K-car came out. If they made it with such a lousy car anyone can!

Only two things helped Dodge survive the 90's, The purchase of the sucessful Jeep line in 89 and the use of the Cummins in their HD pickups. Without them, Chysler would have likely faded away.

----------------- The SnoMan

The loan from the US government allowed them to keep things going. Then the K-car and the first 7 year/70K mile warranty are what allowed Chrysler to generate the cash to design the Minivan and then purchase Jeep.

Bob

THis is true but without the Jeep purchase and the CTD, they would have faded back away in 90's and likely would be worse of today if they had not been bought out too.

----------------- The SnoMan

I vote minivan sales.

I think they came out with the first and probably best in initial quality. Afterall that's what keeps a car company alive, the people that come in and buy a new car every two years not people like me that find a car they like and drive it until it dies or no longer meets their needs. Anyone that holds onto a Caravan past 100,000km (think transmission here people) probably won't be real impressed unless they baby it and keep up on the maintenance.

I do agree that minivan sales did help too but it was not enough to carry them alone and mini vans have been dying slowly since mid 90's as the SUV craze took over. Kinda said because they are more fuel efficent than SUV today and likely safer overall too.

----------------- The SnoMan

This is all related since the original Chrysler Minivan (1984 model year I think) was based on the K-car's frame and power train (2.5L transverse mounted 4 cylinder and 3 speed transaxle).

Bob

You must have had the 2.2L turbo ... possibly a rare Omni GLH? I had a 1987 Lebaron GTS with the 2.2L turbo as well. A slight hesitation off a dead start, but once the turbo kicked in it took off ... and had great steering and brakes too.

No turbo, I figured 2.2 was fairly common since my friend had one too (mine was auto, his manual) He (well his parents) also had an 84 Caravan with the same 2.2L and let me tell you it wasn't much of a performer in the van. A few years later I bought an Omni (84 I think) with the 1.6L Peugeot engine, just not the same :-(

There wasn't a loan from the US government to Chrysler. There were loan guarantees, IOW the US Gov. cosigned for loans.

Ken

Ken,

Yes, you are correct in that the government was the guaranteeor and not the originator of the loan. Although more accurate, it is not relevant to the points I made regarding the success of the K-car and the Minivan providing the basis for Chrysler's purchase of Jeep.

Bob

Bob,

I agree with what you said here. The relevance is that saying that Chrysler received a loan from the US Gov furthers an inaccurate belief that many have held for the last 20-odd years.

Best Wishes,

Ken