Chrysler town and country

Faria wary of Chrysler’s one-minivan strategy Chris Vander Doelen, Windsor Star Published:”Tuesday, February 12, 2008 Tony Faria, the University of Windsor marketing professor and auto industry analyst, says he thinks it would be “a mistake” on Chrysler’s part to build only one minivan instead of two.

Cutting back to only one minivan brand was a suggestion floated by Chrysler co-president Jim Press during the 2008 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in San Francisco last week. Press didn’t say cutting back to one van was his plan. He’s blue-skying, floating ideas. But obviously, cuts will be made and the minivan is on the table.

Email to a friend Printer friendly Font: * * * * “I think they need the Town & Country to cover the high-end of the minivan segment and the Dodge Caravan to go after the price sensitive segment,” says Faria, who pays particularly close attention to industry sales figures. “They could probably eliminate the Dodge grand Caravan which is very much like the Town & Country,” Faria said Monday.

Chrysler still controls 39.8 per cent of the North American minivan market, with total 2007 sales of over 370,000 units. That gives them room, Faria says, to position the Caravan as the economy minivan, “starting at very low prices to separate it from the Town & Country.” One indicator of Chrysler’s unwillingness to do that its positioning of the Mexican-built Dodge Journey.