Fiat Chrysler's next redesign of its full-size cars could get pushed from 2018 into 2019, Reuters reported last week, citing supplier sources.
If true, it would be another stay of execution for the LX platform, which was introduced in 2004 by DaimlerChrysler for the 2005 Chrysler 300.
In 2010-11, the LX platform -- a derivative of the Mercedes-Benz E class -- survived another cut. Fiat and Chrysler planners kept the platform to re-engineer the 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger.
It stayed alive again when all three cars were freshened in 2014.
In early 2013, an updated product plan released by CEO Sergio Marchionne indicated that the 300 and the two Dodges would move to new platforms beginning in 2015.
In May 2014, the product plan was updated again to indicate that a full redesign of the decade-old large cars had been put off until mid-2018.
Reuters cited money-saving efforts as an underlying cause for this and other product delays at FCA. But the automaker is developing new platforms to underpin a set of rear-wheel-drive vehicles for Alfa Romeo.
Marchionne has said that those platforms could be used by other FCA brands, including Dodge, for rwd vehicles.
A spokesman for the automaker said its product plans "need to be flexible and fluid" and be able to "extend the life cycle" of some vehicles.
