Can Fiat Quickly Bring It On?
It is not yet known, however, if Fiat perhaps plans to retool the Sterling Heights plant to produce a new generation of Sebring and Avenger based on a Fiat vehicle architecture and wearing a new sheet metal “top hat” of specific Chrysler design. If Fiat can quickly pull off this maneuver – and if it can afford to do so – keeping open the Sterling Heights plant could be a masterstroke. A new-generation Sebring/Avenger using Fiat architecture almost certainly would be smaller than the current crop of volume-selling “midsize” sedans – models such as the Honda Accord and Ford Taurus – that have ballooned in size and weight just a consumer preferences seem to be shifting and strong new federal fuel-economy and emissions regulations are pending. A possible interim play might be to at least shoehorn in some of that vaunted, Fiat-designed fuel-efficient powertrain technology we’ve heard so much about. A big fuel-efficiency boost, in combination with bolder styling, might be enough of a game-ch
