Chrysler's new "compact" model for the 1995 model year was called the
Sebring, harking to the central Florida airfield that became the site for important sports car races beginning in 1950. I am not sure what connection Chrysler might have had to those races aside perhaps that its V-8 motors might have powered some cars. The name most likely was selected by marketing staff to imply sporting qualities for the new car line, much like Pontiac's Le Mans line (Pontiacs never raced at Le Mans to my knowledge).
According to the link above, the final-generation Sebring was mildly facelifted and renamed
Chrysler 200 for the 2011 model year. The name 200 was tied to the market success of the 2005 and later 300 model -- the number 200 denoting a lesser (size-wise) car.
The present post deals with the last-generation Sebring and the two generations of the 200, final production ending early in the 2017 model year.
Gallery
This is the 2007 Chrysler Sebring. It's not an attractive car, but was given some odd-looking decorative touches that at least made it somewhat distinctive. For example, they're hard to see in this image, but the hood has a set of fore-aft grooves.
The aft end is stubby, thanks to the long passenger compartment greenhouse. The triangular cover at the C-pillar is supposed to emphasize the roofline curve above the windows, but it strikes me as being something tacked-on instead.
Side view. Compare to the image below.
Side view of a 2011 Chrysler 200. From this perspective, the cars are identical aside from some details at the front and rear.
However, the facelift did give the ex-Sebring a new face. And the hood lost its grooves.
The rear was modified as well. We find here one of those cliché horizontal chrome strips and added fussiness for the tail lights.
Now for the redesigned 2015 Chrysler 200. This car is attractively styled.
In profile, the 200 is similar to other wind tunnel tested sedans sold in America.
Rear view. Not as nice as the front. Even though there's a logic to it, I'm not comfortable with the aft end of the upper side character line -- the way it wraps down and around. And I posted here comparing the aft end to that of the Ford Fusion, a similar design.
If you look closely at that black plastic bit that completes the side window shape on the facelifted 200 you will see it has a "200" in chromey letters on it. It's the designers saying "yeah, it's a plastic panel". The worst thing about that body style was the heavy looking curved roof which they were stuck with. But the new front clip and rear I thought were a pretty good effort, and they interior (like with the minivans) was also gone over and greatly improved. They also went through the car and made mechanical and assembly improvements. It reminded me of the 2006 Honda Civic, which everyone criticized for just about everything and was facelifted inside and out in 18 months, plus changes to improve NVH.
ReplyDeleteI'd put the Sebring-200 facelift up there with the 1954 Kaiser for improving a car on a budget. And both had thick heavy looking curved roofs!
The "aft end of the upper side character line -- the way it wraps down and around" was a reference to the 1965 or 1967 Engel Chryslers. Maybe they should have made more of it, and not copied the Hyundai Sonata roofline resulting in rear entry and headroom criticism (although the numbers were no worse than any others). Like the Dart, this car was criticized for unsorted transmissions and questionable reliability, and hit the market when it was going down for sedans. Another miss by Chrysler (or whatever it was called at the moment).
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