The end of 2011 brings about the death of two much-criticized Dodge models, the Caliber crossover and the Nitro SUV, both of which were conceived and developed during the time Mercedes-Benz's parent company Daimler reigned over the Chrysler Group. The last examples of the Caliber and Nitro models rolled off Chrysler's Belvidere, Illinois and Toledo North assembly plants respectively this month.
Introduced in 2006, the Caliber was designed to replace the Neon in the same fashion that Nissan tried to win the European C-segment (think VW Golf) with the Qashqai crossover, but without the same success.
The Caliber left a lot to be desired, especially in the powertrain/drivetrain department and its rent-a-car like interior.
Monthly sales of the compact five-door model peaked in May 2008 with 12,856 units, dropping to a pitiful 412 units in November 2009, with Dodge delivering 1,202 Calibers last month.
The Caliber's replacement will be introduce in a couple of weeks at the 2012 Detroit Motor Show with the new 2013 Dodge Dart, which is a compact-sized sedan model based on the platform architecture of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.
The Nitro SUV made its debut in 2006 as a more masculine and sportier Dodge derivative of the second generation Jeep Liberty with which it shared its platform but not the latter's more hardcore all-wheel drive hardware. It too suffered from a cheap interior while it's on-road dynamics were poor.
The best sales month of the Nitro was in March 2007 with 7,532 deliveries, while the worst was in July 2009 with 1,115 units, with Dodge selling 1,661 units in November 2012.
In a recent interview, Fiat-Chrysler Group CEO, Sergio Marchionne, said that "This car should never have been built” referring to the Nitro.
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