AFSCME 3357-HOF'S BLOG

Deeper Ties between Chrysler and Nissan?


The Wall Street Journal reported today that Chrysler and Nissan are seriously talking about having Nissan build a midsized replacement for the Sebring and Avenger. The Sebring and Avenger together only have a little bit more than 1/10th of the sales of the industry leading Camry and Accord. Although the Nissan Altima gets good reviews and sells decently, Nissan probably has enough production capacity to build quite a few more.

Chrysler previously announced a balls-to-the-wall rushed project called Project Delta to replace the Sebring and Avenger, models that fell into the marketplace like a lead balloon. According to the WSJ, Delta is not so much an engineering project as a marketing project, to see what the public wants in a midsized car. Even if the company partners with Nissan, Delta won't dawn until 2011. That's a long time for a company to go without a credible mid-sized car. Realistically, Chrysler doesn't have the billions it takes to engineer a new car from scratch.