Two words that would tip anyone off of the huge potential for failure:
FIAT
Chrysler
OGG: I know you like both but each company's long history of turning out steaming piles of crap has made me biased to those two names.
Misinformation is a bitch.
Yes, Chrysler has been turning out consistent turds for several straight decades. Their overall improvement since the FIAT involvement has been nothing short of amazing. Are there still problems to sort out? Absolutely.
FIAT took a bad hit to their reputation in the 70s and 80s for a variety of reasons. Some of which were legit, most of which were beyond their control due to the then socialist government interference.
The cars that made it to the US in those years suffered badly from rust issues caused by cheap and improperly treated steel. There were also some electrical gremlins that in all honesty, while real, were nothing like the electrical gremlins that affected virtually all European cars of the era. Chief among the list of top offenders was the British Leyland group that oversaw Triumph, MG and Jaguar... all of which had nightmarish reliability issues and two of those brands not only pulled out of the US, but went away completely from the world market. The MG name once again adorns new automobiles, and the Triumph name once again adorns new motorcycles, but they are just names and share no lineage with their namesakes.
If you're old enough, you would remember a time when American roads were packed with FIATs, Alfa Romeos, Lancias, Renaults, Peugots, MGs, Triumphs, Jensen/Austin Healys, etc.
They all suffered the same woes and the same fate.
FIAT is the worlds largest car maker. Not GM, not Toyota. ..
They not only survived that abysmal period many decades ago, but turned their fortunes around in a staggering success story.
Don't forget, Ferrari would have been gone decades ago if not for FIAT. Arguably, the best cars to emerge from Maranello, did so under the control and leadership of FIAT. Even though they are in the process of taking Ferrari public, they will still be the main driving force behind the Prancing Horse, and the F1 cars will still proudly display the FIAT logo.
In Europe and abroad, FIAT does not have the negative connotations associated with it that it does here. Nick Mason recently called the FIAT 500 the greatest car in history. .. let that sink in a little.
Also remember that at the time 'Fix It Again Tony" was a popular phrase, Americans as a whole considered ANY foreign car to be unworthy. I remember those days well, when Billy Joe Jim Bob and his beer guzzling buddies would talk endless shit about a Honda or Toyota while proudly standing by there atrocious abominations like a late 80s Corvette that barely produced 150 BHP to the crank, and got 8 miles to a gallon of gas.
Meanwhile, Datsun would sell you a 280Z that put 168 ponies to the rear wheels, get 30 MPG, and still be driveable after 5 years for several thousand dollars less.
Fact is, during the 70s and 80s, the only cars that weren't raging pieces of shit, were Japanese.
