Dodge Coronado

The Dodge Coronado was the luxury version of the Argentine Dodge Polara, built from 1969 until 1979 by Chrysler-Fevre Argentina S.A., the Argentine subsidiary of Chrysler Corporation, and sold under the Dodge brand. It was a sedan meant to bring the Dodge name into the premium segment of the Argentine market, where it faced the Rambler Ambassador of 1965 and the Ford Fairlane of 1969. It went beyond the Polara with a vinyl-covered roof, leather seats and door panels, power steering, servo brakes, front disc brakes and an independent front suspension. In 1970 the Coronado Automatic added a three-speed TorqueFlite A-904 automatic transmission, which made it the first Argentine-built car to carry an automatic gearbox as standard equipment, and that version was credited with 108 kW and a top speed of 155 km/h. The name was not new: Chrysler in Argentina had already used Coronado in 1965 for a luxury version of the Valiant III. Production ended in 1979 when the Argentine subsidiary closed and was sold to Volkswagen.