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Later this month Chrysler will introduce more new sporty versions of its Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon models: the Dodge Charger and the Plymouth Turismo. Both use a K-car 2.2-liter engine that sacrifices some fuel economy (city rating: 25 m.p.g.) in order to provide neck-snapping acceleration. The base price: $6,488. Chrysler is hoping that the J-cars will create buyer interest and more traffic in its own showrooms. Says Harold Sperlich, president of North American automotive operations at Chrysler: "When GM comes out with a new product, it gets people to come out to shop and compare. We'll trade on that."
Meanwhile, back at the test track, the automakers are developing still newer and more fuel-efficient models. GM, the first company to begin making smaller cars, will continue to lead the industry in new products through the early 1980s. Next fall it will introduce the new intermediate-size Chevrolet Celebrity, Pontiac A6000, Buick Century and Oldsmobile Cierra. One size larger than the X-cars, these front-wheel-drive models will eventually replace rear-wheel-drive cars like the Chevrolet Malibu. In about a year GM expects to launch its radically designed two-seater P-car.
Ford, which has been the laggard in the move toward smaller cars, is gradually changing over its fleet. This fall a second-generation slimmed-down Lincoln Continental will be introduced. Ford, though, is reluctant to follow Cadillac and produce a truly small luxury car. Says Executive Vice President Louis Ross: "We have difficulty with downsizing for the luxury car buyer." In the spring of 1983 the Ford Fairmont will be replaced by a front-wheel-drive compact that is code-named Topaz.
The next models at Chrysler will mostly be modifications of the company's K-cars. This fall a plusher version of the K-car will be out and will carry the Chrysler LeBaron name plate. Arriving next spring will be a convertible model of the LeBaron. This will be the first convertible built by Detroit since production of the Cadillac Eldorado was stopped in 1976. Cost of the new car: about $14,000.
As Detroit's fuel-efficient models continue to move from drawing board to test track to main street, the old gas guzzlers that carried more than a generation of Americans to work, shopping centers or school are slowly fading into history. A week ago, the last of Chrysler's rear-wheel-drive cars to be built in the U.S., an old model LeBaron, rolled off the assembly line at the firm's plant in St. Louis.
This summer when the factory reopens, workers will produce a new version of the K-car. —By Alexander Taylor. Reported by S. Chang/Tokyo and Barren Seaman/Detroit