It may be one of the less well fancied debuts at the Detroit Motor Show (Or North American International Auto Show, to give it its full and correct name) but the Chrysler 200 is one of the more interesting cars to be taking a first public bow in Motown's sprawling Cobo Centre.
Arriving on public view just two weeks after the much-hyped and often controversial total Fiat takeover of Chrysler was announced, the 200 is the Americo-European marriage in microcosm. It uses a platform derived (distantly) from the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and which is shared with the current Dodge Dart and Jeep Cherokee. Its engines, in stateside form at least, will be a 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol with 189hp (how so little from so much swept capacity?) and a 3.7-litre V6 petrol. In Europe, it will get 1.6 and 2.0-litre diesels, of course, but the tantalising questions is whether it will come to Europe and in what form?
Certainly, here at last is a compact Chrysler saloon with the handsome lines and welcoming interior that are needed to be taken seriously in Europe and it, on this first appraisal, entirely wipes clean the slate so befouled by the dreadful Chrysler Sebring and the last-gen 200 which sprang from it. We don’t yet know what it’s like to drive, of course, but the Cherokee which uses the same basic chassis has been receiving solid reviews, so there’s no reason at this point to doubt that the 200 will be at least decent to drive.
What we don't know yet is what badge it might wear. The whole plan to build Chryslers as Chryslers for America and Lancias for Europe hasn't gone too swimmingly so far. It hasn't been helped by the decision to retain the Chrysler badges for the UK and Ireland (where the Lancia name is still somewhat lower than muck) but either way, sales have been poor, and not helped by a small and ageing model range.
Would a Lancia-badged 200 (presumably called either Delta or Dedra) revive Lancia’s European fortunes? Or will an increasingly American-centric Fiat group just finally give Lancia up as a dead loss and just go with Chrysler as a global entity? The 200, and the reception it receives on both sides of the Atlantic, could well be the clincher in that question.
