When Fiat grabbed the helms of Chrysler in 2009, the Detroit automaker was still trying to recover from its divorce with Daimler and a short fling with American private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. which lead to bankruptcy, so immediately presenting all-new models wasn’t something feasible.
One of the first things that the Italians did at the time was to transform (through a facelift) the dowdy Chrysler Sebring into the less…dowdy 200. Think of it as a kind of a temporary fix until they could regroup and reveal a truly new mid-size sedan. Well, the time to show what they’ve been doing all these years since then is almost up, with Chrysler to begin production of a new model in January 2014.
We’re still not sure if the 200 will be unveiled at the 2013 Los Angeles Auto Show in November or at the Detroit event in January, but until we do find out, we can share this video, courtesy of TLFCar, which captured a prototype of Chrysler’s Honda Accord and Chevrolet Malibu rival testing on the road.
The next 200 will ride on the Fiat-Chrysler group’s modular Compact U.S. Wide platform that is found under the new Dodge Dart and Jeep Cherokee models, with power to come from both 4-cylinder and V6 powertrains in North America.
Video Credits: TFLCar
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