2012 Chrysler 200: Detroit plays a good game of catch-up

My column of June 26 upset a lot of people. I criticized what, in my opinion, are the pedestrian looks of the 2012 Honda Civic HF. That brought forth retorts that I did not write about the Civic’s many virtues, which I did. I wrote that it was reliable, durable, well constructed and safe. I said it was an excellent driver — especially in urban settings, where it proves to be highly maneuverable and easy to park.

But none of that was the point of my missive.

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• Review: 2012 Chrysler 200
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The point was, and remains, that the world has changed. Despite their marketing claims to the contrary, neither Honda nor Toyota, nor any of their famous rivals in Germany, now dominates the global automobile market in terms of overall quality, reliability, safety or value.

Every global car manufacturer offers all, or certainly a significant number, of those attributes, which constitute the basic price of admission in today’s automotive market. Thus, the battle today in the car business is not so much for consumers’ minds as it is for their hearts.

The hearts battle is being fought the way it’s been fought for ages in love and business: with good looks and value, the latter being the art of exceeding customer expectations, giving people more car than they expect for the price paid.

Consider, for example, the 2012 Chrysler 200 Touring convertible, the subject of this week’s review. It is a front-wheel-drive mid-size family sedan, the structural and mechanical progeny of the once-reviled and largely ignored Chrysler Sebring.

Yet, despite its less-than-stellar heritage, the Chrysler 200 Touring convertible drew lustful glances everywhere I drove and parked it. Spectators speculated that its asking price was $20,000 to $30,000 higher than its actual base tag of $26,445. They liked it at what they thought was $46,000, or even $56,000. They absolutely fell in love with it at $26,000.

How did a recently bankrupt Chrysler pull this off?

The answer is in exterior and interior design. Someone at the reorganized Chrysler, now the Chrysler Group, decided to let the company’s designers do what they do best — make stunningly beautiful cars, but this time with better materials.

The old Chrysler was stingy with money spent on materials for automotive interiors. That meanness showed in the cheap vinyl, tacky cloth and, when offered as optional equipment, third-rate leather used in previous Chrysler automobiles — much of it put together as poorly as it looked. As evidenced by the 200 Touring convertible, the new Chrysler has jettisoned those bad practices.

Interior materials are now among best in class for a mid-size family sedan. They are put together beautifully. They look and feel richer than they are, an illusion helped by creative interior design featuring judiciously placed brightwork, including a jewel-like analog clock atop the center console.

There is comfort. With 88.4 cubic feet of passenger space, the 200 Touring convertible has pleasant seating for four adults. Unlike many convertibles, the 200 Touring also has truly usable trunk space — 13.1 cubic feet.