Chrysler: Innovations 'R' Us
The Little Private Car Company that Could outlines its technological future
By Frank Markus
In an attempt to prod some good-news reporting out of us automedia types, Chrysler LLC held a unique technology press event at its Auburn Hills Tech Center attended by not only the product development EVP Frank Klegon and several of his direct-report veeps, but also president Tom LaSorda, vice chairman Jim Press, and his boss Bob Nardelli. The hourly value of the gathered talent on this one afternoon probably would've paid for a 30-second spot on "Late Night" with Letterman, but it would've just been TiVo'd out anyway. We were introduced to and allowed to experience several announced and pending product innovations the brass assert will help keep Chrysler operating on the industry's leading edge even as the company's headcount shrinks.
During a design-dome walkaround with engineers presenting key new technologies, Bob Nardelli made a point of interjecting pointed "questions," designed to illuminate key advantages vis--vis key competitors and perhaps to let us know that he's fully transitioned from lumber-drywall-plumbing-guy to car-guy. During the pointed Q&A session that followed, he acknowledged that the redundancies removed during the integration with Daimler left some holes at Chrysler LLC, but he assured the gathered crowd that the company is restoring those deemed mission critical, while employing joint ventures (like the 2-mode Hybrid system developed with GM, which rolls out soon on the Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen), alliances, and partnerships to cover others. Battery development is an area ripe for partnership, said Frank Klegon, and one in which some intriguing non-traditional players have expressed keen interest in teaming with a private firm like Chrysler. Jim Press suggested the product lineup may still be a smidge top-heavy in the SUV realm and light on small efficient cars, and that future product planning efforts will seek to spread the limited number of nameplates Chrysler can afford to market across a broader spectrum of the market to improve overall reach.
Knowledge-Based Engineering
The tech presentation led off with a new computer-engineering aid credited with compressing the Challenger's development time to just 21 months and allowing it to beat the Camaro to market. The proprietary software, developed in-house, is programmed with all the engineering knowledge and best-practices information gathered in previous development programs. Starting with a completely digitized Dodge Charger, the software "morphed" the chassis into a shortened two-door Challenger, redesigning every part that needed to change. The model broke the car up into 800,000 elements with about five million degrees of freedom, and then ran crash tests involving about a trillion calculations each. Each test took only a matter of hours, each iteration of the test contributed to the "knowledge base," and by the time the first prototype parts came out of the tools (made directly from computer data), the car met all crash standards.
Not only that, but the assembly process was known and all the parts fit together, because the computer automatically checks the new parts for fit, welding, and assembly access, etc. Most of the aerodynamic analysis was done before the first full-size clay was available, enabling the 25-percent improvement in drag compared with the 1970 Challenger it so closely resembles. Mr. Nardelli swears KBE won't be used to further reduce engineering head-count, but clearly it allows the company to do more with less and/or do it faster.
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In-Car Infotainment
Bob Nardelli says Chrysler needs to "make the vehicle your favorite room in th