Alright. I confess. I am a closet Mopar guy. Sure, when it comes to my wallet I favor European metal, but my Grandfather’s unrelenting loyalty to Dodge and Chrysler, even in the worst of times left an impression on me. My Grandmother’s last car was a Chrysler LeBaron four door-a car the 200 can trace it’s family heritage to. For those of you not in the know, the Chrysler 200 is a revised Chrysler Sebring, which had ‘rental car’ written all over it. One Super Bowl commercial with Eminem at the wheel, the improved Chrysler 200 proved to be a very successful car.
Continuing on marketing the company’s motto of being ‘Imported from Detroit’, Chrysler has paired up with Carhartt, a world-wide known manufacturer of clothing for the working man, based in Detroit, established in 1889. The 200 S Special Edition sports unique 18″ alloys, special front and rear fascias, and Carhartt’s special touch on the interior with their signature grey stitching. Now in its last year of production, the Carhartt/Chrysler collaboration signifies a dignified ending to a car which had a humble start. Pricing starts at $28,870USD. The Chrysler 200 S Special Edition will make its debut at the 2013 New York International Auto Show.










New Details on Chysler/Jeep/Dodge’s Future
There is no question that Chrysler had a myriad of problems, and it appears that Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is still at work at revamping the beleaguered company. According to a post from Autoblog, Marchionne confirmed the Jeep Compass will be killed off in 2014. In spite of its 2011 redesign which modeled itself after the Grand Cherokee, Jeep’s attempt at targeting young urban types-especially females appears to have fizzled. The more successful Patriot, which shares the same mechanicals to the Compass has sold far better, with more traditional Jeep styling, but it is unclear what the future of the Patriot is. Still, these cars are dinosaurs, based on the now extinct Dodge Caliber which was mercifully let go in favor of the upcoming Dart.
In other related news, it appears there will be an SRT high performance version of the Dodge Dart that will sit above the Dart R/T. No word yet on what will sit under the hood. In sum, I find the news from Chrysler encouraging as failing and redundant cars are cut off, and under the control of Fiat they definitely appear to be a more focused company. The future looks bright.