AUBURN HILLS, MI – Fiat Chrysler Automobile’s Chrysler marque will supplant Dodge as the automaker’s North American volume brand, with aspirations to increase sales from 350,000 units in 2013 to 800,000 in 2018.
The move to pit Chrysler directly against Ford, Chevrolet, Honda and Toyota means Dodge will exit the minivan market in 2016 as a new Town & Country bows. It also means Chrysler will add a small car, the 100 sedan that same year and expand its lineup with a fullsize CUV in 2017 and a midsize CUV in 2018.
The brand also will make a bigger play in the electrification movement, with plug-in hybrid versions of the new Town & Country and the fullsize CUV, both available at launch.
The expanded lineup will allow Chrysler to broaden its coverage of the North American market to segments that combine for 11.1 million units annually, up from about 3.5 million today, says brand chief Al Gardner.
The new products will put Chrysler in better position to take on the mass-market brands, with the new 100 aimed at such models as the Ford Focus, Chevrolet Cruze and Honda Civic, and the fullsize SUV targeted squarely at such models as the Ford Explorer and Toyota Highlander.
The new midsize model will go up against the Chevrolet Equinox and Nissan Rogue, among other models, Gardner says.
Chrysler says its volume targets, though ambitious on the surface, are conservative based on the market-share gains the brand already has made in the minivan and midsize-sedan segments.
With a refresh of the 300 sedan coming for 2015 (with a debut planned at the Los Angeles auto show later this year), Chrysler will turn over its lineup over the next three years in addition to adding the new models.
“The volume increases are aggressive and attainable,” Gardner promises.
He says the brand will stand for “Ambitious American Ingenuity,” offering the “perfect balance” of substance and style.
“American mainstream,” he adds. “Not luxury, not premium, even though you should expect to get premium content (from Chrysler).”
