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Chrysler 200 replacement coming in January

Autoweek reports the next Chrysler 200 will bow early next year. CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the 2015 model will debut next January, and Chrysler plans to cut the 2014 200 model year short to make way for the model's successor. According to AW, internal documents reveal 2014 model production will start this July and run through early January, 2014. The memos don't specify whether its Dodge Avenger twin will also see a shortened model year (the latter was originally rumored for discontinuation, but a successor is apparently back on the table). Chrysler is investing some $1 billion to construct paint and body facilities at its Sterling Heights, Michigan plant for the next-generation 200.
From what we've heard so far, we can expect the 2015 200 to bring a new design language to the Chrysler brand that will eventually bleed into the automaker's other products. Early reports have also suggested the four door will boast a nine-speed automatic transmission and return up to 38 miles per gallon.
Chrysler executed a very successful facelift in 2011, turning the flailing Sebring into the newly minted 200. Buyers responded enthusiastically, with sales jumping 44 percent in 2012. That step up was enough to make the 200 the brand's best-selling car. The momentum hasn't slackened, either, with sales up 21 percent during the first two months of this year.

Dodge Durango to stay classy with Ron Burgundy as spokesperson [w/video]

The upcoming 2014 Dodge Durango has a lot of things going for it, including its 290-horsepower V6 and 360-hp Hemi V8 engine options, an eight-speed automatic and aggressive looks. And now it will have Ron Burgundy, the fictional television news anchor played by comedian Will Ferrell, as a spokesperson, Adweek reports. He follows in the footsteps of other non-fictional Chrysler brand spokespeople such as Eminem, Clint Eastwood and the late Paul Harvey.
Though the star of 2004's Anchorman and the upcoming Anchorman 2 is wildly popular, we're not sure we see a Dodge spokesperson in Burgundy. (Please, no womanizing or scotchy, scotch, scotch before test test drives). But at this point there's no turning back: Chrysler's chief marketing officer Olivier Francois previewed three ad spots at the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday, and says Chrysler has already filmed 68(!) Durango ads with the fictional newsman.
According to Adweek, one of the ads previewed had Burgundy highlighting the SUV's glovebox size, and in another he compared its horsepower to a white horse standing next to him. Will this help Dodge Durango sales improve? We can only wait and see. In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in Comments, and check out the trailer for Anchorman 2 below.

Bailout dealership cuts did their job as profits surge

Almost five years after US taxpayers bailed out General Motors and Chrysler, a large majority of their slimmed-down dealership networks are posting soaring profits, Bloomberg reports, and contributing to the US auto industry on track this year to deliver 15.4 million vehicles, the most since 16.15 million were delivered in 2007.
Consider another important figure: Bloomberg says that more than 90 percent of GM dealerships are profitable, compared to about half of them in 2008 and 2009. At the start of 2013, GM had 4,355 US dealerships and Chrysler had about 2,600. Compare that with just a few years ago, when GM had 6,246 dealers in 2008, while Chrysler had 3,200 in 2009.
As part of their bankruptcy restructuring, both GM and Chrysler decided that their retail networks contained far too many dealerships and insisted that they be slimmed down. The resultant dealership terminations followed by a rebounding auto market - in part due to better new GM and Chrysler vehicles - have increased the number of sales per dealership to record levels. Many dealers are taking advantage of increasing profits and investing in facility renovations and updates, such as Chrysler dealership owner David Kelleher. He's spending $2 million to expand his store.