The American auto press has declared the new Dodge Dart to be the first vehicle released from a joint Italian/Chrysler design since the formal Fiat-Chrysler allance several years ago. That's probably true, if one considers the amount of input that Chrysler actually put into it. But it does not seem to be the only new vehicle of Italian-design to actualy have an American (or Chrysler) nameplate. Case in point....the Chrysler Ypsilon, a small B-sized vehicle sold primarily in Britain, but not in the U.S. It comes from a joint Fiat/Lancia design...but Lancia does not operate in Britain, and (appanantly) Fiat did not want to use their own nameplate. So, they simply used the Chrysler name, did some minor revisions and added some Chrysler trim inside and out, and, presto, there you go. It must be emphasized that this is NOT the same platform as the Alfa-Romeo-based one the Dart uses.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancia_Ypsilon

http://www.chrysler.co.uk/ypsilon

 

Needs to stay there. It would not do well over here

 

It's not doing well here, either. Poor effort.

 

it is a nice car i just dont understand what does it have to do with Chrysler....

 

I wasn't aware of it until I read about it in TOP GEAR's Annual new-car-buying issue (I get copies of TOP GEAR from a local British friend of mine.....it is a superb magazine, IMO). It covers, of course, many vehicles available in Britain that are not sold here in the U.S.

As far as to why it carries the Chrysler namelate, part of the answer seems to be in the reference material.....Lancia doesn't operate in Britain, so they couldn't sell it under that nameplate. Of course, it could (maybe) have been sold as a Fiat, but perhaps Fiat, with the Punto, Panda, and larger versions of the 500, already had enough small cars covered in that class under their own nameplate.

 

They apparantly also sell a somewhat larger, C-size Italian-designed car called the Chrysler Delta. Generally a good-looking car, IMO, except that the rear end looks too much like a Nissan Murano.

 

The rear end design seems to trace its roots from the PT Cruiser.

 

Delta is small so it Golf competitor... so it real life it doesnt look anything like Nissan

 

The PT Cruiser, as I understood it, was generally an all-American design. Both of these designs come pretty much from Italy, with Fiat/Lancia, and, with the Delta, Alfa-Romeo. The Delta, according to TOP GEAR, comes from the same basic Alfa Giuletti platform as the Dodge Dart....though the body and interior, of course, are quite different.