DETROIT, MI - Consumer Reports says it weighs a lot of factors when evaluating vehicles, putting them through 50 "rigorous instrumental tests and other evaluations" at its 327-acre test track.
Then it assesses the cars and trucks on thousands of miles of open road. One thing that obviously is not taken into account, is how well the car has been selling in the meantime.
So when the publication calls the Chrysler 200 one of the worst cars of 2015, it comes as FCA's midsize sedan is selling extremely well: Through August of this year, sales of the Chrysler 200 have jumped 112 percent to 135,709 units on an annual basis.
One of the reasons it's selling well is because the 2015 Chrysler 200 is an all-new model, updated from a previous generation that dated back to 2007. Consumers have seemed to like the styling of the 2015 Chrysler 200 better than the outgoing model.
But Consumer Reports has harsh words for both the new model and its predecessor:
"The previous edition was at the bottom of our midsized-sedan ranking. And now the redesigned version finished dead last in the category. For all of the effort Chrysler put into this car, the 200 suffers from a raspy four-cylinder engine, unrefined transmission, klutzy handling, and a cramped rear seat that only a submariner could appreciate. There are many better choices."
It was one of four "worst cars of 2015" Consumer Reports selected. The publication was duly unimpressed with the Land Rover Discovery, the Lexus NX/200t/300h and the Kia Sedona.
See the full report here: Best and Worst Cars of 2015
Related: What's driving the Chrysler 200's triple-digit sales jump this year?
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.