After a hiatus from offering the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep brands, Emporia Motors is excited about the new models the revamped car company is presenting in 2012.
Two to three years ago, Chrysler Financial and the Chrysler Corporation fell on hard financial times, declared bankruptcy and took a bailout from the federal government.
“Of course at that time, with the auto industry the way it was, it made it pretty tough to get anybody to want to floor plan the cars so we could have the inventory we needed,” said Creig Agler, owner of Emporia Motors. “We finally got all that worked out, got all the bugs out of it and we’re back in business.”
Emporia Motors has been a Chrysler dealership since the early 1980’s. During the break from showcasing Chrysler products, Emporia Motors still serviced the brands and sold a car or two here and there.
“We would always sell one or two or three a month,” said Agler. “We would just go get them from other dealers. We just didn’t have them in stock.”
Currently, Emporia Motors has 14 Chrysler-line vehicles in stock and is waiting to get 32 more by the end of January or beginning of February. Agler said that since the Chrysler Corporation declared bankruptcy, it has overhauled the company and the product lines, streamlining operations by reducing the number of choices when it comes to what’s under the hood.
“Chrysler Corporation basically got their act back together,” said Agler. “They were a company that took bankruptcy, took a bailout from the government, much like General Motors did.”
He continued, “They have changed the design of their trucks. They’ve changed the interior design of their vehicles, as far as all the trucks go. In the Jeep line, in the Chrysler car line, in the Dodge car line, they’ve streamlined their engines, As an example, they came out with a new 3.6 (liter) Pentastar (V6) motor that you can get in just about every single thing that they offer.”
Also available in various models are the Chrysler specialties, the 4.7 and 5.7 liter V8 Hemi motors.
“So they’ve basically streamlined it down to three or four engine types instead of having 14 or 15 different engines,” said Agler. “So when you streamline everything down you’re able to keep a company more profitable and put that money back into new products.”
Many give credit for the streamlining to Sergio Marchionne, Chief Executive Officer of Fiat-Chrysler, who the newly-merged corporation is hoping becomes the Lee Iacocca of the new millennium.
Marchionne is responsible for sealing the deal on Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler in 2009. The Fiat influence has not only caused changes to the current product lines, but has brought back the Dodge Dart.
Agler had a chance to see photos of the former muscle-car turned mid-sized compact at a meeting in Kansas City. The Dart is Chrysler’s answer to the Ford Focus, Honda Civic and Hyundai Elantra and is estimated to get 35-40 miles per gallon fuel economy.
“It’s hot,” said Agler. “ ... It’s a sharp car.”
In the absence of the Chrysler brands in Emporia, Agler said there have been some consumers that have asked for it back.
“We had a few people that would come in and ask, ‘Where are they?,’” said Agler. “We’d explain to them that we just don’t have any on the ground but we’d be happy to get you one. ... I think for the most part it was easy to tell when you drove past Emporia Motors that all there was was Toyotas and used cars. There weren’t any Chryslers, Dodge or Jeeps. That’s a sad day, a sad deal.”
With all the changes, Chrysler must be doing something right.
“The corporation sales have done nothing but increase in the past 18 months,” said Agler. “It’s been phenomenal. Their share of the market, they’re coming back, coming full swing. So we anticipate seeing a lot of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep sales.”