Once you have the pieces designed, the question is whether they'll go together as planned. So, prior to building a prototype with metal, plastic, rubber, glass, etc., they did it with digits in a computer. Hess says that Chrysler is the first U.S. automaker to have done this. The Neon isn't what it once was. The length of the 2000 Neon is up by 2.6 in.
Simplicity is better.
The 2000 Neon is simpler than its predecessor in some major ways. The greatest area of carryover from the previous vehicle is the 2.0-liter SOHC engine, but here there have been plenty of modifications, including a new air induction and intake manifold system, new exhaust manifold, cylinder head cover, and timing head cover for quieter engine operation. This provides a capacity of 260,000 units. This gives us the opportunity to have a faster launch with higher quality. So when the tooling development and training was underway, the focus was on the people at one facility, which is highly advantageous from the standpoint of getting them ready to go.