Dodge Dart joins compact car race

Geoff Robins / AFP - Getty Images

The 2013 Dodge Dart is unveiled during the first press preview day at the 2012 Detroit auto show.

By msnbc.com news services

Chrysler introduced the new Dodge Dart at the Detroit auto show Monday.

The reinvented compact is nothing like its predecessor from the 1960s and '70s. But Chrysler is counting on the Dart, and its zippy name, to help it sell more small cars and continue its recent revival.

Instead of the somewhat boxy lines of the original, the new Dart has the sleek stance of a modern muscle-car, with a short hood, long roof and slightly flared fenders. And it's based on the frame and suspension of a crisp-handling Alfa Romeo hatchback brought over by Chrysler's Italian owner, Fiat SpA.

Geoff Robins / AFP - Getty Images

Upscale sedans, fuel-efficient electric cars ? and old-school muscle cars ? make their debuts at the 2012 North American International Auto show.

The Dart also is a crucial test of the Chrysler-Fiat alliance, one aimed at saving millions of dollars by reusing Fiat frames, engines and technology, yet giving them an American style with more space for people and gear. The Dart is the first Chrysler designed jointly by the companies.

Chrysler, which ran out of cash and had to be bailed out by the government in 2009, saw sales jump 26 percent last year, and it's poised to turn its first annual profit since 1997.

Now the automaker needs a breakthrough in the growing small-car market, where it hasn't had success since the bug-eyed Dodge Neon in the mid-1990s. After nearly failing, Chrysler also realizes it must end its dependence on inefficient SUVs and pickups.

Since the Neon, few have considered Chrysler compacts, keeping the company out of a market that has grown to about 15 percent of U.S. auto sales.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10075317-dodge-dart-joins-compact-car-race

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