Story speaks to inventory management, indicates Chrysler needs to approach a more JIT method to production. They are now keeping a huge inventory and not reacting quickly enough to demand. The way I see it, this could cut either way. If they don't figure out how to produce closer to demand then we're all screwed because they won't be able to keep up and the prices will soar (as in ouch and pun intended) on the Challenger....however, maybe the figure it out quickly dedicating themselves to fair margin on a huge demand for Challengers and become more profitable (please, oh please) and decide to focus on reducing margin to increase sales volume and overall revenue/profit......

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/co...ge_top+stories

Regardless.....article indicates other things that are interesting and some disconcerting....among the interesting things is the attention to the cabin.....this seems like a no brainer and why any company would try to skimp in this area is unfathomable....this is where the majority of the experience and interfacing with the product is.....to skimp in this area defies common sense and I'm glad there are folks who see this simple truth......furthermore, when trying to get fence sitters and general folks to commit to a product...you have to make the initial contact and experience in the car enjoyable....seeing cheapness in interior.....sets the wrong tone and can take a person warm to the product and turn them off.....if it seems cheap in the cabin.....what are the odds the places you can't directly see and interact with have had corners cut as well....kudos to them again for figuring this out.....


On the disturbing side "....These days, everything is being done under the watchful eyes of Press and Nardelli. In recent product reviews, Creed says, Press wanted to know if the 2009 Dodge Challenger muscle car could get a little more bling in the dashboard. And Nardelli asked why the door handles weren't easier to grab....." I hope he leaves the door handles alone and understands that the concept was true to the original to a degree and one of the cool things I like about the originals were there door handles.....looked like they were intended to be aerodynamic back in the day....and I like they way the look....if he wants to plaquer the dash with "bling" so be it....but don't mess w/ the body too much......

 

FYI - The original Challenger door handles pulled (they were also chromed) up while the concept car pulls forward (those are painted orange as you can tell).

 

As important as JIT inventory is, I think the inventory issue has more to do with having too many models that aren't selling very well. They do need to cut back on some and produce other models that will be hot sellers, such as a sporty, yet economical compact car. Now something that is confusing me is they were saying that the Sebring is selling slowly. Another article just said they were selling quite well. So which way is it?

 

Unfortunately, the original door handles were a very poor design, as they tended to break easily -- especially since the doors easily froze shut in northern climates and any sort of hard pull on the handle could easily break it off. Yes, I went through several handles on my '70 till I figured out it was wise to keep the contents of a can of Heat in a squeeze bottle in my trunk (which oddly seldom froze shut) and would squirt some around the driver's side door to get it to thaw out.

 

Yep....nothing quite as frustrating as the feeling of a door handle giving way and pulling away from the vehicle in your hand.....had that happen to my minivan rigged it with a cord.....poorly design body components can really be a turn off.....sounds like they're focusing on this at Chrysler now....