Chrysler LLC and Nissan Motor Company have announced two more joint-venture deals. Nissan will build a 2011 subcompact for Chrysler, a car about the size of the '05 Dodge Hornet Geneva concept, but with brand-new design, for North American and European markets. And Chrysler will build a pickup truck for Nissan, the long-rumored Dodge Ram-based next-generation Titan. There are several implications beyond what the two companies announced.
First, the details. "Nissan will manufacture an all-new, fuel-efficient small car based on a unique Chrysler concept and design," Chrysler says. "This new segment entry for Chrysler will be sold in North America, Europe and other global markets in 2010, and manufactured at Nissan's Oppama Plant in Japan."
Nissan's Oppama plant builds the Cube, Cube Cubic, March, Tiida, Tiida Latio, Note and Bluebird Sylphy. Of those, the March, a three-door hatchback, would be about the right size as a basis for a car like the Dodge Hornet. Chrysler LLC President and Vice Chairman Tom LaSorda says his company's car will be on a new Nissan platform, "we're not discussing what it is.
"It's a brand-new design by Chrysler. It was designed in the studio recently," he says of the b-segment car.
Most likely, though, that new Chrysler small car, probably badged a Dodge, will be built on the next-generation March platform. The current March has ridden on the same platform since the 2003 model year, so it's long overdue for a revamp.
Chrysler has been working with China's Chery on the small car, but the project has been fraught with problems and setbacks and had already slipped well past Chrysler's 2010 calendar year target for an on-sale date. This doesn't mean the Chrysler-Chery deal is dead. Negotiations continue, Chrysler has hired Phil Murtaugh as its president of Chinese operations and has poured engineers and resources into its erstwhile Chinese operations. Chery's first car for Chrysler will be built just for the local market, LaSorda says. That's a clear sign that Chery has been unable to deliver anything that would meet North American and European crash or emissions standards.
Earlier this year, Chrysler and Nissan announced a deal in which Nissan will rebadge its Tiida/Versa subcompact with a Chrysler brand name for the South American market. The new Oppama deal is unrelated, except that the two automakers have discovered synergies and will continue working together without any equity tie-up. And the Chrysler product won't be the only car imported to the U.S. from Nissan's Oppama plant. The second-generation Nissan Cube also is coming to the U.S., certainly by 2010.
As for the other side of the deal, it plays into Nissan's announcement last week that it will enter the medium-duty commercial truck market in North America. Commercial truck production will displace Nissan Quest and Infiniti QX56 production in Canton, Mississippi, leaving the minivan and the lux SUV with no apparent replacements. According to Monday's announcement, "Chrysler will manufacture a full-size pickup for Nissan" at its Saltillo, Mexico, assembly plant, with sales starting in 2011. That means Chrysler will build the 2012 Titan, on the Ram's platform, and the Titan Armada, if Nissan chooses to keep that large SUV in production, in Saltillo. LaSorda says the Titan won't literally be on the Ram's platform, as its design has been adapted for the Nissan. The unanswered question is, with whose engines? Chrysler will shift volume from Mexico to U.S.-based assembly plants to make room for the Nissan truck. No doubt that's easier with the dollar-to-peso relationship having become less favorable. And it's a rare example of good news for the United Auto Workers.