FCA's decision to kill off the Dodge Caravan doesn't just mean the end of a storied nameplate. The auto maker will also retreat from a significant niche micro-segment, the affordable minivan.
Speaking to Automotive News, Chrysler brand head Al Gardner said
"The reality is that the [American Value Package] is a very difficult price point to get if you're going to build the technology, the content, the vehicle, the platform that we want to build…At some point, those customers are wonderful customers for us, and we would love to be able to sell them something, but it may not be a Town & Country, if we look at the segment," he said. "That price point is really hard to do, and none of the competition can do it either."
The American Value Package, which starts at $22,390, far undercuts key rivals like the Kia Sedona, Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna. The new pricing structure of the Town & Country will be more closely aligned with every other van in the segment (starting at around $26,000, with the bulk of models in the $30-40,000 range), but it presents a conundrum for Chrysler.
While the American Value Package has its following, the Caravan is extremely popular in Canada, consistently ranking in the top 5 new vehicles sold. While the two vans sell about 130-140,000 units each in the United States, FCA sold 51,000 Grand Caravans in Canada, versus 8900 Town & Country vans in 2014. FCA will have to engineer some kind of replacement for the Canadian market alone, or else risk abandoning substantial volume in the country where the Chrysler van is built.
The post Future Chrysler Minivans Will Be Upmarket Only appeared first on The Truth About Cars.
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