Name from Chrysler’s past forging route to its future

A partial view of the 2013 Dodge Dart, named after the 1960s small car that gearheads turned into street racers. The Dart is due in showrooms during the first half of next year. ASSOCIATED PRESS Enlarge

With the new Dodge Dart, Chrysler Group LLC is resurrecting a nameplate that hasn’t graced the fender of a new car in 36 years and is entering the compact sedan market for the first time since it dropped the Neon in 2005.

But much more is riding on the Dart than nostalgia when it is unveiled Monday during the media preview of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The Dart is the first Chrysler product based on underpinnings from Fiat SpA since the Italian company assumed control of the U.S. automaker in 2009.

“It’s absolutely critical for their [Chrysler’s] future,” said Aaron Bragman, a senior analyst at IHS Automotive.

“This is going to be the one that people look at and say, ‘All right, does this partnership have steam, does it have promise?’?” Mr. Bragman said.

After recently refreshing most of their line, Chrysler officials have said the Dart, which is to be powered by engines built in Dundee, Mich., is expected to be the only all-new Chrysler product presented at the show.

When the Dart was introduced in 1960, it was among the first Chrysler vehicles to abandon the traditional body-on-frame construction in favor of the unibody now used on nearly every passenger car in the United States.

So very much has changed since then. The original Dart shrank from a small full-size car to a midsize, and its swoopy jet-age styling became more slab-sided.

Performance packages came and went, and the aging model eventually was sent to the automotive graveyard in 1976.

Joining forces

As for Chrysler itself, the U.S. government twice bailed it out, and the company spent eight years as a partner with Daimler-Benz before a brief spell under the ownership of a private-equity firm.

Eventually, it found another suitor — some might say savior — in Italy’s Fiat.

One of the key plans is sharing parts and platforms to build models that are competitive in all markets of both companies and can save money.

Based on the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, the new Dart is the first stab at doing that.

“There’s definitely a lot riding on it,” said Ed Hellwig, an editor with the auto- motive research Web site Edmunds.com.

“The whole idea … rests on reusing parts between the two companies. This is really the first real serious use of one platform for the other company. I think if it didn’t work it would raise serious questions going forward, but I don’t see any red flags on why it wouldn’t work,” Mr. Hellwig said.

‘The future’

Chrysler for weeks has slowly been pulling the covers back on the four-door compact Dart. Photos released by the company show a taillight set-up similar to the Dodge Charger’s and an aggressive front fascia with a blacked-out version of Dodge’s trademark cross-hair grille.

The whole vehicle is to be unveiled Monday.

“This is the future,” Mr. Bragman said. “This is the next step for this partnership, and it’s gotta be done well if they want to be globally competitive.”

Eventually, other models will get in on the platform sharing.

One notable model will be the next incarnation of the Toledo-built Jeep Liberty, which is scheduled for a complete redesign — and possibly a name change — early next year. Company executives have said that eventually as many as four other vehicles built on Fiat platforms could be manufactured in Toledo.

“If they don’t get this one right, the ones that come after it are going to be a harder sell,” Mr. Bragman said.

High hopes

Those familiar with the Dart seem confident that Chrysler got it right.

“I have seen the car and I think they’ve got a winner on their hands. I really do,” said Tom Zimmerman, Global Engine unit chairman for United Auto Workers Local 723 in Dundee. “I hope it’s not just a niche car. I hope it’s a nice segment builder for Chrysler.”

Buyers will be able to choose from three four-cylinder engines in the Dart — naturally aspirated 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter versions or a turbocharged and intercooled 1.4-liter.

All three of those power plants are produced at the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance plant in Dundee.

“I hope the product brings us more work. I hope the volumes just go through the roof,” Mr. Zimmerman said.

Lagging sales of the Fiat 500 contributed to temporary layoffs for some employees there late last year, although all those workers are back on the line. Chrysler spokesman Jodi Tinson couldn’t say specifically what the effect of the model would be on Dundee’s line, only that it would be positive. “Certainly any time you can add an additional product line to the line you’re supplying, it’s a good thing,” she said.

Compact potential

The Dart is the first compact sedan for Chrysler since Neon production ended in 2005. Dodge’s most recent entrant in the small-car market was the recently discontinued Caliber, which hasn’t sold well in recent years. In 2011, the company found buyers for about 35,000 Calibers, down from about 45,000 in 2010. Sales peaked in 2007 at just over 101,000.

Although it was sold as a compact car, to many U.S. buyers it wasn’t one in the traditional sense.

Offered only as a hatchback, it somewhat resembled a crunched-up crossover.

“It just didn’t really have anything that nobody else has,” Mr. Hellwig said. “There was really no compelling reason to choose it over any of the competitors. When you put together a limited body style with an interior that’s OK but not great, you put yourself in a corner there.”

The Dart’s interior is one of the features company officials have been highlighting ahead of its release. The car has 10 airbags as standard equipment and offers a range of interior color combinations plus high-tech trinkets such as a customizable gauge cluster.

Chrysler engineers also tamped down the Dart’s thirst for fuel compared with the Caliber. At its best, the Caliber had 27 miles per gallon in combined city and highway driving. Chrysler has announced the Dart achieved a 40 mpg combined rating, although the figure on the Dart’s window sticker could be lower because the testing for that rating is done under different standards.

Preproduction vehicles are being built now; full-scale production is still a few months away. Ms. Tinson said that is to begin early in the second quarter. The Dart will be assembled at Chrysler’s Belvidere, Ill., plant, which currently builds the Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot. Chrysler pumped $600 million into the Belvidere plant last year ahead of the Dart announcement.

Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at: tlinkhorn@theblade.com or 419-724-6134.