DETROIT — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is shaking up the decidedly uncool minivan segment with a makeover and a name change, a move it hopes will revive slumping sales of the vehicle it invented 32 years ago.
FCA unveiled its reimagined minivan Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, and it’s a far cry from the wood-panelled Dodge Grand Caravans the newest generation of car buyers grew up with.
Built in Windsor, Ont., the van looks more like a modern crossover than a traditional minivan, but will actually carry more passengers — eight, instead of a maximum of seven in existing Chrysler minivans. It will also be available in a plug-in hybrid version.
FCA also rebranded the vehicle, scrapping the stodgy Town & Country nameplate in favour of Pacifica, the name of a crossover Chrysler sold from 2004 to 2008 with limited success.
JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty ImagesBuilt in Windsor, Ont., the van looks more like a modern crossover than a traditional minivan, but will actually carry more passengers — eight, instead of a maximum of seven in existing Chrysler minivans.
“Everybody who mattered on the North American team expressed a view on this, and I think we came away with a very firm view that … we had to de-link this new vehicle from the history of the Town & Country, which is known as the car that soccer moms used to drive,” FCA chief executive Sergio Marchionne said in a press conference following the vehicle’s unveiling.
“This is not to discourage soccer moms from buying it, but it’s got a wider audience in terms of a potential market and I think we wanted to be sure that it has a name that at least allowed it to have the interface with that market.”
FCA invested US$2 billion in its Windsor plant to develop the next-generation minivan and is hiring 600 new workers to build it, according to the Windsor Star.
Marchionne said he will meet with representatives from the Ontario and federal governments on Tuesday and will tell them “they should be proud of what we’ve been able to do in Windsor.”
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In order to prepare for the Pacifica, the Windsor plant was shut down for 12 weeks earlier this year for retooling, a move that may have weighed on sales in the already depressed minivan segment.
In 2015, U.S. sales of the Chrysler Town & Country fell 32 per cent and sales of the Dodge Caravan fell 27 per cent. In Canada, where the Town & Country is more popular, sales of that vehicle rose 0.6 per cent while sales of the Dodge Caravan fell 9.3 per cent. Chrysler plans to eventually phase out the Caravan.
Chrysler has been a leader in the minivan segment since it came out with the first Caravan in 1984, but it’s a shrinking market. Minivan sales accounted for less than three per cent of new vehicles bought in the U.S. last year, compared to 8.5 per cent at their peak in 1995, according to data from Ward’s Auto.
Following the minivan’s reveal, Marchionne also weighed in on his favourite topic, industry consolidation.
AP Photo/Tony DingFCA rebranded scrapped the stodgy Town & Country nameplate in favour of Pacifica, the name of a crossover Chrysler sold from 2004 to 2008 with limited success.
He said FCA has “abandoned” the notion of an automotive merger for now to focus on its plan to be debt-free by 2018, but that doesn’t mean he’s walking away from the idea entirely.
“The (consolidation) pitch was not intended as a substitute for the plan or as an excuse for not achieving the plan,” Marchionne said.
But he reiterated his view that industry consolidation is “inevitable,” and said a debt-free FCA will be in a much better position to find a partner, even if Marchionne himself, who plans to retire at the end of 2018, isn’t around to see it happen.
“Achieving the 2018 plan puts this house in a completely different position to have the inevitable discussion about consolidation, which must happen whether we like it or not,” he said.
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