Will Chrysler and Dodge Truly End Right-Hand-Drive Car Production?

There was a report that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) will stop the production of right-hand-drive (RHD) vehicles. This will cover the production of Dodge and Chrysler cars, which were built in Canadian factories Brampton and Windsor.

The decision has already been made in the U.K. and FCA is now considering markets in New Zealand, India, Japan, Australia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and South Africa. The Chrysler 300 will still be committed to the RHD markets, nonetheless.

In an announcement made by FCA in 2015, the company will offer the products of Chrysler only until 2017. Thus, the company cited the need to focus on the Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Fiat brands instead. Moreover, the decision was made due to the dwindling sales results of the company.

In that same note, the decision was made by FCA due to the difficulty in justifying costs in the production of RHD models for just a number of countries. So, Chrysler and Dodge will have to leave the whole South African market after the decision was made.

Chief executive Robin van Rensburg also stated that this was, indeed, an unfortunate situation that came from their principals in North America. It was also stated by the Chrysler plant of Australia that they were investigating the case for this decision, but the FCA’s announcement has deemed this is not going to happen.

The decision made by the FCA will surely affect a lot of countries in Australia and South Africa. This was made in order to merge Chrysler and Fiat to a shared headquarters in South Africa. This is due to the fact that such companies are only known as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles around the world.

Despite the fact that Australia seems to be unaffected by this decision just yet, in consideration to the retention of the Chrysler 300 models, seeing the RHD Dodge Charger or Challenger might not happen at anytime soon.

Overall, the manufacturing plants in South Africa might focus on parts and services only, as the production of FCA cars still continue in some major countries around the world. This includes the Chrysler 300, which is an ongoing product on their lineup.