Dodge Dart news

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Post by bstc00 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 7:53 am

Its not the fact that its nothing special its the fact that it was going to be called a GT. Now its going to be called an RT.

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Post by r/tguy02 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:10 am

yeah kinda stupid to change the moniker at this point. as if calling it an r/t would sell any better. they need a bigger (or more powerful) engine in it period.
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Post by jrumann59 » Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:58 am

r/tguy02 wrote:yeah kinda stupid to change the moniker at this point. as if calling it an r/t would sell any better. they need a bigger (or more powerful) engine in it period.
Its all show and an attempt to assuage the fears that Fiat is going to kill Dodge. Gov't should have let it go bankrupt so they could start from scratch and build cars we all love. This is Daimler all over again and could be the death knell for Chrysler.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by theColonel » Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:09 pm

r/tguy02 wrote:yeah kinda stupid to change the moniker at this point. as if calling it an r/t would sell any better. they need a bigger (or more powerful) engine in it period.
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013 ... drive.html
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Post by jrumann59 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 12:14 am

And Fiat will string eveyone along long enough with "leaks" about the Dart SRT4 and bam one day Chrysler will be empty husk with pieces of its engineering showing up in fiats all across the world.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by r/tguy02 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 1:34 pm

theColonel wrote:
r/tguy02 wrote:yeah kinda stupid to change the moniker at this point. as if calling it an r/t would sell any better. they need a bigger (or more powerful) engine in it period.
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013 ... drive.html
"The GT is a good addition to the Dart lineup, but to turn this Italian-bred compact into a true Volkswagen GTI or Civic Si fighter, it will have to both go on a diet and find at least another 40 horsepower from one of its motors."

pretty much sums up the article and my thoughts
Justin
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Post by jrumann59 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 3:48 pm

r/tguy02 wrote:
theColonel wrote:
r/tguy02 wrote:yeah kinda stupid to change the moniker at this point. as if calling it an r/t would sell any better. they need a bigger (or more powerful) engine in it period.
http://blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2013 ... drive.html
"The GT is a good addition to the Dart lineup, but to turn this Italian-bred compact into a true Volkswagen GTI or Civic Si fighter, it will have to both go on a diet and find at least another 40 horsepower from one of its motors."

pretty much sums up the article and my thoughts
Similar things were said about the neon pre-SRT
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by wickedgood4684 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 5:11 pm

r/tguy02 wrote:"The GT is a good addition to the Dart lineup, but to turn this Italian-bred compact into a true Volkswagen GTI or Civic Si fighter, it will have to both go on a diet and find at least another 40 horsepower from one of its motors."

pretty much sums up the article and my thoughts
Mine too. Bring it down to the 3k lb mark and give it 220-230 and it would put that car in the GTI, SI, ST class.
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:16 pm

jrumann59 wrote:Gov't should have let it go bankrupt...
You are my friend and a gentleman but I have to ask- are you serious? While cars that get us excited are important, in the big picture, letting Chrysler post-Cerberus go bankrupt and the ripple effect that it would have had on this country's economy is a much more serious thing. Given Chrysler Group's current robust health, the loans (which have been long paid back and early, for that matter) were definitely a good thing. This is all I that will say about this subject. :hiding:
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Post by jrumann59 » Thu Jul 25, 2013 10:24 pm

Midnight_Rider wrote:
jrumann59 wrote:Gov't should have let it go bankrupt...
You are my friend and a gentleman but I have to ask- are you serious? While cars that get us excited are important, in the big picture, letting Chrysler post-Cerberus go bankrupt and the ripple effect that it would have had on this country's economy is a much more serious thing. Given Chrysler Group's current robust health, the loans (which have been long paid back and early, for that matter) were definitely a good thing. This is all I that will say about this subject. :hiding:
It should have gone into a managed bankruptcy like, gasp Romney said, it would have allowed Chrysler to re-tool financially and get out from under the unions. That is why everyone but Chrysler and GM are doing fine, all the japanese automakers have limited to no union workforce and Ford played hardball with the unions. Letting Chrysler be pounded into the ground by Fiat a la Mercedes is doing the brand very little good right now they are riding pretty much old DC designs besides the Viper and Dart there is a lot of Vaporware and the new Viper is getting luke warm excitement and the dart while nice is nothing more than a refined neon with about as much backing as the original oh and heavy price tag. As to the effect on the economy lets see Detroit just tried to file for bankruptcy so par for the course.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by r/tguy02 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:13 am

point taken james, but why would fiat run chrysler into the ground, if chrysler is currently supporting fiat? (if you havent heard fiat is losing money) if chrysler fails, fiat fails. unless marchionne likes orchestrating a train wreck and watching 2 auto companies burn, i doubt he would let that happen.
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Post by jrumann59 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:42 am

The Marchionne has stated he wanted to use Chrysler to get a foothold back in the USA so instead of original designs he is going to use Chrysler as a test bed for Fiat designs that would work in the US most consumers are dumb and will see Chrysler as an American car company and any failures FIat brings over will be attributed to chrysler. He knows that Jeep and the Truck division will keep most of the company even keeled but the car side is going to tank so he has room to wiggle on bad designs.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by theColonel » Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:58 am

jrumann59 wrote:The Marchionne has stated he wanted to use Chrysler to get a foothold back in the USA so instead of original designs he is going to use Chrysler as a test bed for Fiat designs that would work in the US ...
Chrysler had already failed by 2007 ... Daimler paid Cerberus, the vulture capital company, to take the UAW pension fund liability off their hands. Sergio Marchionne has sold cars,
and kept people employed for the last four years. I don't like the Fiat based cars either, and will probably buy Mazda or Ford next.
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Post by jrumann59 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:07 pm

theColonel wrote:
jrumann59 wrote:The Marchionne has stated he wanted to use Chrysler to get a foothold back in the USA so instead of original designs he is going to use Chrysler as a test bed for Fiat designs that would work in the US ...
Chrysler had already failed by 2007 ... Daimler paid Cerberus, the vulture capital company, to take the UAW pension fund liability off their hands. Sergio Marchionne has sold cars,
and kept people employed for the last four years. I don't like the Fiat based cars either, and will probably buy Mazda or Ford next.
Ford was the only one of the big 3 willing to play hardball with the unions. If GM and Chrysler had gone bankrupt and let another company buy them they could have kicked the unions out. Just like the company that just bough hostess, hostess is back without the unions that bankrupted the company last year.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by jonnymopar » Fri Jul 26, 2013 12:26 pm

Mmmmm... Twinkies... Delicious, creme-filled, union-free Twinkies...
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Fri Jul 26, 2013 2:53 pm

jrumann59 wrote:...hostess is back without the unions that bankrupted the company last year.
International Baking Co. management, not the unions, bankrupted Hostess. Union workers gave concessions several times but those in management gave themselves raises when the company was virtually insolvent.[/off-topic]
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Post by jrumann59 » Fri Jul 26, 2013 3:06 pm

Midnight_Rider wrote:
jrumann59 wrote:...hostess is back without the unions that bankrupted the company last year.
International Baking Co. management, not the unions, bankrupted Hostess. Union workers gave concessions several times but those in management gave themselves raises when the company was virtually insolvent.[/off-topic]
No quite. The unions made concessions at the 11th hour when they thought some sort of employment was better than none. As with most unions the burden of the pension plans were placed on the shoulders of the company. Hostess decided that bankruptcy was going to happen either today or they could push it down the road but it was going to happen. The majority of unions are out of date relic of the past when the majority of companies took advantage of the employees, now with better employee rights laws and the presence of OSHA most of the unions are not needed. If all the unions up and died off tomorrow the US could get back to manufacturing and being competitive with other countries. It won't happen but that is another issue.

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These chapter 11 cases were commenced to effect the fundamental operational and financial changes that the Debtors’ businesses require in light of their declining performance, aging infrastructure, strained liquidity levels and excessive debt, and the significant challenges facing the Debtors, including, but not limited to, uncompetitive and unsustainable labor and legacy costs and an intensified competitive environment.

Declining Financial Performance

As non-public companies, the Debtors are not required to file annual or quarterly reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Debtors do, however, prepare audited financial statements as one of the terms and conditions of their long-term debt agreements. The Debtors’ audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended May 28, 2011 have not yet been finalized. According to the Debtors’ most recent unaudited financial statements, for the 2011 fiscal year, the Debtors recorded annual net revenue of approximately $2.5 billion. As of May 28, 2011, utilizing book values, the Debtors had assets of approximately $1 billion and liabilities of approximately $1.4 billion.

Since their February 2009 emergence from the IBC Bankruptcy, the Debtors’ financial performance has not kept pace with the projections set forth as part of the 2008 IBC Plan and has deteriorated significantly in recent quarters. For the fiscal year ended May 29, 2010 — the first full year after emergence from chapter 11 — the Debtors’ experienced a net loss of approximately $138 million. For the fiscal year ended May 28, 2011, the Debtors’ unaudited books and records indicate that the Debtors’ net loss was approximately $341 million, reflecting $132 million in write-off of deferred debt issuance costs and debt discount which occurred when long term debt was reclassified as current debt.

Factors Responsible for Declining Financial Performance

The Debtors believe that three main factors are responsible for their recent economic troubles: (a) high legacy costs; (b) inflexible labor work rules and structures; and (c) unsustainable debt levels that prohibit the Debtors from adapting their business to current competitive conditions thereby increasing profitability. As a consequence, the Debtors do not have a competitive cost structure and cannot achieve viability on a long-term sustainable basis in their industry.

Crippling Legacy Costs. As stated above, the Debtors participate in 40 Multiemployer Plans. The Multiemployer Plans are structured to place the financial burdens of all of the retirees under the plans upon the remaining companies in the plans that have active union employees. Over the last several decades, the number of companies supporting the Multiemployer Plans has shrunk significantly as a result of the voluntary and involuntary withdrawal of many employers and the fact that virtually no new employers join multiemployer plans today. This significantly increases the burden on the companies, such as the Debtors, that remain. The Debtors’ annual cash pension contributions associated with the Multiemployer Plans is approximately $103 million. Additionally, the Debtors have annual retiree medical obligations of approximately $1.4 million.

Inflexible and Uncompetitive Collective Bargaining Agreements. As stated above, the Debtors are party to 372 separate collective bargaining agreements (collectively, the “CBAs”). The CBAs collectively mandate maintenance of 80 different health and welfare benefit plans, the sheer number of which impose excessive administrative and cost burdens on the Debtors. The CBAs mandate increases in wages and medical and other benefits for the fiscal year ending June 2, 2012 that total an additional $31 million. In addition, the CBAs contain a variety of different work rules that hamstring operations and make the CBAs uncompetitive as well as extremely difficult to administer. For example, the Debtors often provide both bread and cake products to an individual customer location. The existing work rules require that, on many routes, separate trucks must deliver the bread and cake products to that single customer location. The work rules also require that, in some bakeries and distribution centers, a separate individual must be used to load the trucks (the Debtors’ competitors have drivers who load their own trucks) and separate people must load either bread or cake onto a truck. Finally, work rules require that, in some instances even when a route representative is already visiting a customer location, that representative may not move product within that location; rather, a separate employee must visit the customer location to move product from the back room to the shelf. Often, this so-called “pull-up” employee cannot move both bread and cake and, thus, two “pull-up” employees must make this same trip. This multiplies the number of individuals necessary to deliver product to customers and doubles the costs associated with trucks and fuel. Finally, the work rules prevent the Debtors from implementing alternative distribution systems into new, currently unserved markets.

Unsustainable Debt Levels. As set forth above, the Debtors have several tranches of secured debt totaling approximately $860 million. While the impact of this debt burden was somewhat ameliorated in the near term by the carefully constructed payment-in-kind features, it is incompatible with achieving a competitive cost structure, funding sorely needed capital improvements and long-term viability.
bone-yard-racing wrote:
Remind him of two things for the mustang:
Slow in=Fast out
Fast in=Ambulance out
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Post by titansxt » Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:28 am

I had no idea the Dart was so intertwined with Twinkies. My mind is blown.


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Post by Midnight_Rider » Sat Jul 27, 2013 1:46 am

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/06/24 ... bou/194570
And with that, back on topic about the Dodge Dart. :runaway:
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Post by theColonel » Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:32 pm

Has anybody seen a Dodge Dart GT with the 2.4 liter engine ?

http://www.dodge.com/hostc/bmo/CUD201319/models.do?
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Post by MyNeonSaysHi » Fri Oct 04, 2013 11:35 pm

Have I seen one? Unless they want to show me their engine bay in a parking lot. That would be a No. Haven't seen any GT's yet. Still SLOW. Needs turbo.

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Post by theColonel » Mon Oct 07, 2013 5:59 pm

2013 Dodge Dart GT ... More competitive with more power

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2013100 ... z2h4lZdCG7
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Post by MyNeonSaysHi » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:41 pm


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Post by Midnight_Rider » Wed Nov 06, 2013 3:13 am

More on Scat Pack Dart:

http://www.allpar.com/mopar/performance/scat-pack.html
allpar.com wrote:Stage 1:
Cold air intake
Short-throw shifter
Performance brakes with slotted rotors

Stage 2 adds:
Cat-back exhaust
Premium-fuel engine calibration

Stage 3 adds:
Mopar “big brake kit” with stainless steel lines
Adjustable-spring/strut performance suspension
Upgraded front and rear sway bars
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Post by MyNeonSaysHi » Wed Nov 06, 2013 9:54 am

I tried posting that info in my post from my link but it was too much. Screen went blank on preview post. :lol:

Cool upgrades... But they should of done that on a different motor setup. I mean 184 crank up is not going to cut for such a pig.

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Post by Midnight_Rider » Wed Nov 06, 2013 11:35 am

Agree. I was just thinking that it would have been nice if DCX had offered "factory" packages like that on the SRT-4.
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Post by titansxt » Wed Nov 06, 2013 12:37 pm

They really really should have made this Scat Fart (couldn't help myself there) an ACR version as well. With all these nice upgrades the car could really use:
1. a healthy dump in excess weight
#2. a swift kick in the rear to get it moving
3. different badging on the rear



Ha, I made puns. No butt really it should have been an ACR.
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Post by Midnight_Rider » Wed Nov 06, 2013 1:05 pm

:laughing3:
Maybe, just maybe Chrysler Group is getting a feel for a possible SRT...
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Post by titansxt » Fri Nov 08, 2013 2:15 am

The day C segment spot was made was the day we asked for a SRT version of one.
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Post by MyNeonSaysHi » Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:44 pm

Amen to that.

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