Chrysler has lots of products to crow about

[Blue_Tires]

We all know Chrysler won't reap the benefits of its alliance with Fiat until 2012, but that doesn't mean the cupboard is bare. To the contrary.

This year, Chrysler plans to introduce three new vehicles that are acknowledged leaders in their segments and one new model that gets it into a growing and potentially lucrative new market.

The first Fiat model, the 500, will also arrive, giving Chrysler dealers a sophisticated and chic little car that's smaller and considerably less expensive than the Mini Cooper.

That's the formula for a dynamite year for a car company. If we hadn't fixated on what Chrysler lacks, rather than what it has, we might be talking about the flood of new models coming from Auburn Hills.

Chrysler's deficiencies drove the company into bankruptcy and an alliance with Fiat. The new vehicles coming this year, though, are a useful reminder of what Chrysler does well, and why Fiat wanted control of Chrysler.

First comes an all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee, hitting the road in about two months. SUVs became emblematic of Detroit's dysfunction, but there's still a market for them, and the new Grand Cherokee looks like a winner. Its elegant looks sheath a classy interior and the go-anywhere ability that make Jeep one of the auto industry's strongest brands.

A brand-new seven-seat crossover SUV for Dodge -- the brand's first vehicle in the popular segment dominated by models like the Toyota Highlander and Chevrolet Traverse -- is to follow the Grand Cherokee out of Chrysler's plant off Jefferson Avenue in Detroit in the third or fourth quarter of this year.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100214/COL14/2140418/1003/NEWS01/Chrysler-has-lots-of-products-to-crow-about