Fiat Chrysler not ditching Dodge minivan -- yet
DETROIT -- The 2017 Chrysler Town & Country minivan that will make its global debut next month at the North American International Auto Show looks both to the future and the past.
It represents Chrysler's past as the company credited with creating the minivan segment when a blue Plymouth Voyager with wood trim rolled off the line on Oct. 3, 1983.
It represents the future with plans to offer a plug-in hybrid version even though FCA and its CEO Sergio Marchionne have been reluctant to embrace electric vehicles. Marchionne now sees the minivan as the test ground for consumer acceptance of hybrid technology with the expectation most of the fleet will adopt alternative powertrains by 2023.
Investment in a new generation of minivans also represents resiliency for not giving up on a segment that other automakers have abandoned, leaving Chrysler, Honda and Toyota as the last big players. General Motors and Ford exited the segment years ago.
The development of a new Chrysler Town & Country but not a new Dodge Grand Caravan reflects Marchionne's edict to stop duplication among brands. But in the end, the automaker did not want to abandon the lower end of the price range so the decision was made to keep building the current generation of the Dodge Grand Caravan indefinitely for sale in both the U.S. and Canada.
"I think the reaction to the minivan is going to be really good," Tim Kuniskis, head of passenger car brands, said of the next generation of the people mover that goes on sale early in the new year with the hybrid to follow months later.
Timing of the eventual phaseout of the Dodge will depend on the production ramp-up of the new Town & Country and how strong demand is. At some point, capacity will be needed to add production of a new crossover in Windsor.
The Chrysler brand has not had a full-size crossover since the Pacifica, which was built in Windsor from 2003 to 2007.
FCA filed an application Nov. 3 to trademark the Pacifica name but Kuniskis said the company renews name rights all the time. "You don't want to lose names. Establishing new names is expensive."
He notes the Pacifica was discontinued six years ago and the name does not have the level of recognition as Town & Country.
While crossovers are the most-popular vehicles in the U.S. right now, minivans are personal for Chrysler. They rescued the automaker from the brink of financial collapse in 1983 and generated millions in profits by leading the market for decades in a segment that exceeded 1 million units for 12 years.
Chrysler staked its claim with that first 1984 model. "There was nothing else like it," Kuniskis said. "We created a new segment."