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AUTO REVIEW
Chrysler 200C
From near-obscurity to a competitive sedan
By Steve Schutz, MD
“This is the Motor City, and this is what ‘AD CHANGED OUR LIVES’ numerous nicely integrated styling elements,
we do.” So said recording artist Eminem at In fact, a few months ago I had the chance the 200 is undeniably handsome. My re-
the end of the best car commercial of the last viewer’s eyes told me, “Well done, but I see
25 years. That momentous ad, which aired to talk with two Chrysler engineers who told more Hyundai Sonata in the profile and tail-
during the 2011 Super Bowl, changed how me that that ad changed their lives. It made lights than I’d like,” but my neighbors and
Chrysler was viewed by many people. Just as them believe in the company again and in- coworkers all said something like, “Wow!
Lee Iacocca’s ads did in the early 1980s, the spired them to work extra hard on the second Nice — what is it?” No one ever said that
“Imported From Detroit” Eminem commer- generation 200 to ensure that it was worthy about the previous Chrysler 200.
cial told customers to take Chrysler seriously, of the commercial.
not pity them. The interior is even better than the exte-
That car, the all-new 200, was rior. Inconsistent describes most Chrysler in-
Given how moving the ad was, it hardly introduced earlier this year and teriors over the past several years, and
mattered that the car it featured, the first is massively better than its pred- thankfully that’s not the case with the 200.
generation Chrysler 200, wasn’t very good. ecessor. The materials are good everywhere, and there
The point was to change how Chrysler was are some nice highlights such as attractive
viewed by car buyers, and, not incidentally, It certainly looks better. Sporting a flowing blue lighting, buttons and knobs where you
Chrysler employees. roofline, sculpted front and rear ends, and want them, and a cool storage area under the
44 San Antonio Medicine • March 2015
