Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming
 

<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/chrysler/" rel="tag">Chrysler</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/dodge/" rel="tag">Dodge</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/jeep/" rel="tag">Jeep</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/fiat/" rel="tag">Fiat</a></p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/#continued"><img alt="Chrysler badge" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2011/02/chrysler-badge.jpg" style="border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; margin: 4px 0px;" /></a><br />
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Some years ago, sitting in my office with the windows open on a warm spring day, I heard a deep rumble - not unlike the sound of a freight train passing by... but closer, more menacing, and immediately followed by a violent shudder as a rare Midwest earthquakes rolled out from under Lake Erie.<br />
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<strong>This wasn't supposed to be a particularly good year for the smallest of the Detroit makers.</strong></div>
I'm starting to hear a similar sound, not quite so loud, but this time emerging from Auburn Hills, Michigan, where <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/make/chrysler">Chrysler</a> is headquartered. Call it a hum, maybe a rumble, though definitely not yet the sort of buzz that would follow a similarly seismic event - in this case the turnaround of a company most folks had long written off for dead.<br />
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This wasn't supposed to be a particularly good year for the smallest of the Detroit makers. Its product pipeline, went the conventional wisdom, was all but empty, other than the completely-remade <a href="http://autoblog.com/model/grand+cherokee">Jeep Grand Cherokee</a> and redesigned <a href="http://autoblog.com/model/300">Chrysler 300</a>, due later in the model-year. But I think most of us in the media were delivered a pleasant surprise a few months back when we got a first good look at the rest of the maker's 2011 lineup.<br />
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<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/#continued">Continue reading</a>...<br />
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<em><img alt="Paul Eisenstein" border="1" class="right border" hspace="4" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/11/paul-eisenstein-small-opt.jpg" vspace="4" />Paul A. Eisenstein is Publisher of </em><a href="http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/"><em>TheDetroitBureau.co m</em></a><em>, and a 30-year veteran of the automotive beat. His editorials bring his unique perspective and deep understanding of the auto world to Autoblog readers on a regular basis.</em></div>
<hr style="width: 630px;" /><p><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/" rel="bookmark">Continue reading <em>Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming</em></a></p><p style="padding:5px;backgr ound:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/">Opinion: Chrysler no longer left for dead, biggest test still coming</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblo g</a> on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 16:31:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19825546/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/04/opinion-chrysler-no-longer-left-for-dead-biggest-test-still-co/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>

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