Talk:Dodge Aspen

message: Circa 1976, Aspen, Colorado residents protested the use of their town's name for the Dodge Aspen. It's a neat bit of history that should be added. I recall a wag writing, "no one told the town of Aspen they stole their name from a tree". All in all, I think this bit of trivia has merit. Someone, please help out in adding this.Theaternearyou (talk) 20:15, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Until someone comes up with reliable support for this what you describe, it's not a "neat bit of history", it's just a story. Could be true or could be apocryphal. Find a source or two and then it's worth adding. Til then, it's not. On the surface, it looks very dubious. The Aspen was hardly the first car to share a name with a town. —Scheinwerfermann T·C20:34, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Protest over car's name in Aspen, Colorado 

message: The Dodge Aspen/Plymouth Volare recall is not mentioned at all in this article. Popular Mechanics ranked it as "One of the 5 most notorious recalls of all time". The Aspen/Volare were called "the most recalled car" to date and were exceptional for being one of the only cars ever recalled for rust.. The "most recalled car" title apparently originated with Consumer Reports before being vouched by later sources. Ralph Nader's Center for Auto Safety gave it the Lemon of the Year Award for 1977. After a successful, well-received, introduction with strong sales (511,000 units in 1976 and 695,000 in 1977), the recalls pushed sales down to 455,000 in 1978, then down to to 350,000 in 1979, at a time when the rest of the car industry was experiencing boom sales. The cost of the recalls was some $200 million.
I've seen claims in questionable sources that the cost of these recalls pushed Chrysler to near-bankruptcy and led to the 1979 bailout, but I haven't found any high-quality sources that support that. The cause of Chrysler's troubles were much bigger and begin before the Aspen, though the Aspen/Volare quality was cited as a symptom of the deeper problems at Chrysler. The specific cause of the problems was engineering cutbacks in engineering staff, so adequate testing was not performed.. Many sources have said that Chrysler's problems can be traced to cost cutting during lean times leaving the company unprepared for the next boom. This cyclical cash-flow problem is typically traced to Chrysler's small size compared to GM and Ford.
I found several sources saying Chrysler had a strong reputation for quality compared to Ford and GM, and that it was the Aspen/Volare that first undermined that -- "terribly harming the company’s reputation" and becoming the focus of Lee Iacocca's efforts to reform the company. Part of the negative image was due to an extraordinary 8 recalls in the first year, rather than spread over time, which the NHSTA called "unprecedented" and the AP said had a greater impact on sales than when recalls are spread over  time (AP, Donald Woupat May 19, 1978, "Don't Expect A Quick Fix for Recalled Dodge Aspens Or Plymouth Volares").<P>A significant part of this article -- the entire 'Production history section' consists of marketing claims taken directly from press releases, touting the unproven benefits of wind tunnel testing, supposedly better visibility, the benefits of the suspension. The only source cited is Chrysler press releases. --Dennis Bratland (talk) 17:39, 22 July 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV: no mention whatsoever of recalls? 

message: Volaré is indeed Spanish for "I shall fly", but while the Italian "Volare" does mean "to fly", it has no accent whatsoever.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.14.216.78 (talk) 10:52, 8 March 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Volaré vs Volare