I've Been Here Before... And So Has Chrysler. The Second or Third Coming of Chrysler.

Okay- little dark secret about the The Car Guy Gets It here... in his darkest hour he sold Chryslers. There, I said it. You can all laugh now...

But that was years ago- when they, the Chryslers, were glorious.

(Funny how we tend to glorify our lives no matter how shitty they may have been at one time or another... Chryslers included.)

They weren't glorious- but I was selling them at the zenith of the DaimlerChrysler empire- when they made such masterpieces as the Chrysler Crossfire (which, I'll have you know was a first-generation Mercedes-Benz SLK with an ugly Chrysler skin...) Sto-N-Go seating (the middle and back row seating of the Town & Country folded flat into the fucking floor... in-to the fucking floor!) and alas- the Baby Bentley... Ah, the Chrysler 300. The Three Hund... the Three-Hundo.

The Chrysler 300- for about 9 months between October 2004 till I want to say about the time I left around (for the record I was fired, can you believe?) spring 2005- they couldn't keep that car on the shelf.

Everyone wanted a 300- Chrysler was back baby and the 300 was a testament to what Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz could do to make an exciting car that people wanted.

Then- like most anything else- the fad cooled a bit- everyone who wanted or actually liked a 300 got one, now they can't give them away- good car aside- but it was exciting to have sold them when they were hot- I guess when I'm old and gray I can brag to my grandchildren how "I sold the 300 before every rapper had one in their music video."

(A little side story here- I sold three Dodge Magnums to The Diplomats- Dip Set Bitch... but that's another story for another post...)

Anyway- that's ancient history. Thank God.

And Chrysler too was almost ancient history when they went totally fucking bankrupt then Fiat came to the rescue and bought them, in a move that would make it very easy to market and plan their next foray in America the Fiat 500. Only this time, they're hoping they don't leave the country with the Fix It Again Tony sentiment.

Now, the biggest and brightest auto mavens are looking toward the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee as the next savior of the brand- in an article published by the Associated Press and featured on Yahoo! this morning.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee has always been a game-changer, a winner. But personally- this is not 1995 anymore. The game isn't about changing it anymore- but rather- staying in the game.

SUVs are not as popular as they once were- BUT- the Cherokee promises efficiency, livability in a car world and segment that has gotten a little smaller in the mind, and lighter in the wallet when it comes to fuel costs and a lot more refined.

Yeah, yeah- they claim the new 2011 Grand Cherokee was in planning "way before Fiat came along..." but what they're not telling you is- this Chrysler Second Coming is- you guessed it- based off Mercedes-Benz ML underpinnings.
So- if you want a taste of what the Second Coming of Chrysler- go to your local Mercedes-Benz Center and drive the ML- a car they've been slinging going on five years now.

I don't doubt the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee isn't going to be great- it will. All Grand Cherokees have been good- but can they turn around an entire company?

As I remembered it- Jeeps were never the problem in the Chrysler arena- Chryslers were. Then again, America loves an underdog and a continual underdog storyline Chrysler has been for 40 years- think the Rocky series but with a car brand.