and that is why the Caliber is sold out for the next two months….

and has sold 36,000 units so far this year… especially since marketing/advertising only started in April.

lol overhyped.

31596 examples thus far this year without full exposure, with 12500 coming last month. The Belvidere plant moving from 1 shift to 3 shifts adding 2000 jobs.

Yeah sounds overhyped to me. The Caliber and the LX trio are a breath of fresh air while the mid sized group, the ram, dakota, durango and all jeeps save the commander seem to bepulling sales into the tank.

well, I don’t know about trio… 300 and Charger are doing very well, the magnum is also tanking at the moment…

The Magnum is tanking because Higgins won’t let it drive the 308 anymore!!!!1!!!one!!!

Finally an “American” car maker is making a sporty smaller car with great practicality and it is a success. And it even gets good mileage. I wonder why it’s popular…

Never mind the quality, feel the width. How can anyone put up with such poor interior materials and design? No wonder the big three won’t make better cars, because there are so many schmucks out there willing to buy second rate. And don’t try telling me that the Caliber is equal in engineering sophistication to a Euro or Japanese product because we all know that isn’t true.

If it’s selling so well why have I only seen 1 in person? And I live in a major metropolitian area with a Dodge dealer every 10 miles…

”

Finally an “American� car maker is making a sporty smaller car with great practicality and it is a success. And it even gets good mileage. I wonder why it’s popular…
”
You just described the Neon. The Caliber is more of a minivan then a small car.

Has anyone seen the new laydee’s Jeep, the Compass? Even the gay guys on Santa Monica Blvd would laugh at you if you drove one of those.

because production is not up to full speed yet. There is a 2 month waiting list. The product went into production in January, meaning they hit dealer lots in the midwest in late feb, early march. Advertising just began in April. Average time on the dealer lot is less than 2 days.

Why haven’t you seen them? supply is still far behind demand. Hell, they sold as many Calibers in the month of May as GM plans to build Solstices this year!

Mike That just proves how many blind people can drive

I’ll give the exterior a pass because it’s different and follows the recent design DNA, but the interior is a FAILURE.

“because production is not up to full speed yet. There is a 2 month waiting list. The product went into production in January, meaning they hit dealer lots in the midwest in late feb, early march. Advertising just began in April. Average time on the dealer lot is less than 2 days.

Why haven’t you seen them? supply is still far behind demand. Hell, they sold as many Calibers in the month of May as GM plans to build Solstices this year!”

There are so many Dodge dealers here I fail to see how the supply outripped the demand. Now if it was a 2007 Escalade or Tahoe I would agree with you.

um, the Tahoe’s and Escalades, while flying off the lot, are sitting longer than these.

Although I agree, the interior needs some instant quality improvement.

Mike is right. Overhyped or not you cannot deny that right now the Caliber IS selling very well. The reason that nobody has any on the lots is they are selling in an average of 2 to 3 days. Whether or not that trend will continue time will tell but as of right now there’s no denying the car is selling well so far. The question is how long will its stong sales continue. Then we’ll be able to judge whether the car is a success or not.

the lx trio combines for 25,000 units per month (despite the magnum tanking and the 300c treading water – maintaining slightly up for the year), so as a trio they are indeed extremely strong. You would have to fail grade 1 to have not seen the magnums demise coming as the more mass market friendly charger came out. As long as the sales of the 3 total > the sales of the three total last year, they are winning. I’m looking forward to the interior redesign next year hopefully to pull more buyers in, as well as the challenger eventually getting spun off this platform.

As for not seeing Calibers. The factual sales numbers do not lie. As for the quality and dash molestability of the interior, I can say it is an improvement over the neon and for the pricepoint The ones I’ve seen are not awful by any means. They have been touted as having far higher resale than previous dodge products (by independant companies) – more inline with the imports.

I still feel dodge needs a small CAR aside from this corssover, but we know crossovers are hot and pricepoint alone on the caliber should keep it moving.

“um, the Tahoe’s and Escalades, while flying off the lot, are sitting longer than these.”

Could just be my area, but if it isn’t an SUV, people won’t drive it. H2’s, H3’s and the new 2007 Tahoe platform will outsell anything out of Dodge’s stable with the exception of the Ram HEMEEYYY.

Sorry to double post, but to add to the above:

I certainly won’t disagree with numbers, it could just be my absolute hatred for the Caliber that clouds my eyes, but I have yet to see anymore of these things. I was a big fan of the Neon, even after Chrysler ruined the platform, it was still a good ca. I hate seeing small compact cars being replaced by minivans and crossovers.

Ram has been selling very soft. Tahoes and Yukons were both down in sales last month, with the escalade being the only darling. yukon was down -4 and -12 for the xl, -5.5% for the tahoe.

GM will be up to its ass in alligators the next few months as their record sales last year for “friends and family” pricing will be impossible to beat especially with so little sales momentum.

i think the fj cruiser is gay as a pig with fish net stalkings on…i would rather drive that ugle cailber anyday then been seen in a sissy fj cruiser

i think the fj cruiser is gay as a pig with fish net stalkings on…i would rather drive that ugle cailber anyday then been seen in a sissy toyota.

uh…right ok…….

toyota mocks dodge!!!! seen the new tacomas..look like the 97-04 dakotas from the side view..ok look at the new 2007 tundra looks like a friggen ram!! they even have a 5.7 just like dodge…chrysler has jeep..toyota brings out the fj cruiser. dodge soon to have the challager watch toyota come back out with its supra..or another car to go against the viper or corvett.

its cause the caliber is trash, just looks at its placings in all of the comparison tests. just goes to show that looks arent everything.

hahah yah toyota wants to be dodge sooooo badly they designed an engine to have the exact same displacement as the hemi? please, someone is being paranoid…

Dodge was going to take a leaf out of Porsche’s book in naming the Caliber, until someone said there was already a product called “Dumpster”

The problem with “fashionable” styling is that it becomes tired and stale very quickly. Chrysler will not be able to follow up the success of the LX.

“Chrysler will not be able to follow up the success of the LX.”

^^ statement of fact. ^^

tuck in your skirt, your bias is showing.

should have read:
“I do not know how Chrysler will follow up on the success of the LX. I have my doubts about the LY, but I am open-minded enough to wait and see before I chastize a product that isn’t even sketched yet.”

Mike that’s just not as much fun to say and it wouldn’t get a rise out of you

I have to agree. The Caliber has been hyped up a lot, because of its styling mainly. Also because of the sucess of 300c and Charger. I think it has placed last or second to last in magazine comparisons. It is also very slow, even with the high power engines it is one of the slowest compacts.

Look much better then the corolla or civic anyday.

While everyone is complaining about the interior and comparison testing, remember the price point. That is why it is a total success. Refining it in a manner that would raise the price would kill this vehicle.

Rene, This car costs as much as a civic or corolla so it should be as refined as a civic or corolla. So the price point arguement doesn’t work.

Rene I wouldn’t buy one because I actually graduated high school, have travelled abroad and don’t want people to think i live in a double wide trailer home.

When I look at the Caliber all I see is son of Aztec

#32 If that is the case why do the 300c, the Jeep Compass and Patriot and all Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep products have equally poor quality interiors? Chrysler here is a hint. Buy an Audi A6. Look at the interior. Copy the interior. Same materials everything. Being the lowest priced with the highest content doesn’t cut it with savvy buyers any more.

The caliber dosn’t compete with cars like the corrola and civic you dumb asses. Its a compact 5 door. Its aimed at cars like the pontiac vibe. And when you compare the vibe to the caliber, like what your supposed to, the caliber crushes the f*cking pontiac!

#37 Common sense, if a Caliber and a Civic and a Vibe are on my shopping list, then I got news for you buddy, THEY COMPETE.

“While everyone is complaining about the interior and comparison testing, remember the price point. That is why it is a total success. Refining it in a manner that would raise the price would kill this vehicle.”

All the Scions, the Civic, Corolla, Yaris and Honda Fit have better interiors and there extremely affordable.

No, I’m sorry. Even the interiors of a Pontiac are better than those of Scions, Fits, Corollas, and ESPECIALLY Yarises.

And if the Caliber is overhyped, what is the Camry or the Civic?

I think Kelley Blue Book and Harris Interactive are just jealous that an American car has taken the crown of popularity, like it’s been from the beginning of the car all the way to the 1970s.

Fudge Packer, I didn’t know Pontiac owned a Dodge division… :-/

And Niels is right, once again.

Nobody said they did 1c3d0g c3po. Fudge was saying that the Caliber is so ugly it could be son of Aztek

#41, the difference is while the Caliber is overhyped and it SUCKS, the civic is overhyped because it’s an extremely reliable, entertaining, and quality vehicle, happens to be one of the best in its class. the camry is also hyped up , oh you know, only because its the new version of the BEST SELLING CAR IN AMERICA, thats a bit of a title to live up to, so obviously the redesign will be hyped. the caliber however, is hyped even though its garbage on wheels