Queue starts here for Chrysler 200C

AUSTRALIA will be one of the earliest countries to put up its hand for the Chrysler 200C medium sedan if the new model gets the green light in a much-anticipated Chrysler five-year plan to be announced by Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne in two weeks.

Local expectation is that these plans will include, among a litany of new products, a medium-sized Chrysler sedan as previewed as the 200C concept car at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show in January.

Chrysler Australia marketing and product general manager Craig Bradshaw said his company was excited by the prospect of a sub-300C sedan to attract new customers to the brand.

Mr Bradshaw said a medium sedan such as the 200C would attract customers who would like to get into a 300C but perhaps could not afford to.

“This would give us a viable alternative to get them into the Chrysler brand,” he said.

As shown in Detroit, the 200C concept was a mid-sized four-door rear-wheel-drive sedan that drew on the same strengths as the design-focussed 300C.

Presented with a plug-in hybrid powertrain that may or may not make it into production alongside conventional petrol-powered models, the 200C concept also shared the 300C’s platform which was originally derived from the superseded Mercedes-Benz W210 E-class, sourced when Chrysler was merged with Daimler.

Thought to a replacement for the Sebring, the 200C concept was 4879mm long, 1870mm wide, 1455mm high and had a wheelbase of 2948mm.

The 200C could provide the ammunition Chrysler needs locally to inject more vigour in the mid-size category than its 2.4-litre four-cylinder front-drive Sebring can muster.

Chrysler sold 257 Sebrings to the end of September, representing just 0.6 per cent of the medium segment.

Although it is in a different sales category, it is noteworthy that in the same period Chrysler was able to move 681 of the 300C sedan, despite it being twice the price and a far more dated model line than the Sebring.