Chrysler, Dodge to get distinct identities; next-generation minivans to be 'vastly different'

By MARY CONNELLY | Automotive News

DETROIT -- Chrysler group COO Wolfgang Bernhard says he will ban look-alike minivans at Dodge and Chrysler. The next-generation minivans "will be vastly different. It's going to be sheet metal. It's going to be interior," he says. Bernhard's plan to create distinct identities for the minivans is part of a larger effort to separate the Chrysler and Dodge brands. Now, with more manufacturing agility, the Chrysler group stands a chance of succeeding, analysts say. The Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Voyager and Town & Country minivans are similar in appearance. The minivans will share powertrains, Bernhard says, "but what the customer sees, touches or feels will be different." The three minivans will be redesigned in the 2006 or 2007 model year. Through April, the Chrysler group's minivan sales are 134,515 units, down 6.2 percent compared with the year-ago period. The Chrysler group's plants are becoming more flexible and can build several models on the same assembly line. This permits a larger lineup of distinct vehicles, says David Cole, president of the Center for Automotive Research and a management partner at the Altarum Institute in Ann Arbor, Mich. "They can differentiate products much more easily than they could even two or three years ago," Cole says. "Chrysler is significantly increasing the flexibility of its plants. When you have a more flexible plant, you can drop in new products. "One reason you had to make things alike was that you didn't have much choice. Your manufacturing system was not able to handle it. Chrysler has been going after flexibility with a vengeance. Now they can create more diversity in their products. They have wanted to do this for a long time. They are getting to the point where they have the capability of doing it." Distinguishing Dodge and Chrysler brand vehicles is becoming more imperative as the company works to move the Chrysler brand upscale, says Michael Robinet, vice president of global forecast services at CSM Worldwide in Farmington Hills, Mich. "They don't want people to think Chryslers are rebadged Dodges or that Dodges are rebadged Chryslers," Robinet says. The company has begun fostering brand independence, he says. For example, only the Chrysler brand will carry the 2004 Pacifica. "They could easily have badged a Dodge version of Pacifica," Robinet says. Robinet expects to see distinctive Chrysler and Dodge body styles in future products, including the rear-drive LX sedans that will replace the Chrysler Concorde, the Chrysler 300M and the Dodge Intrepid. "Not just fascia or fenders but actual body styles," he says. The Chrysler brand will remain high volume, Bernhard says. But the brand is trying to carve out a premium position by offering vehicles such as the 2004 Chrysler Pacifica and Crossfire. Dodge, Bernhard says, "has never been really defined. It has never been clearly, explicitly defined that this is what Dodge stands for." Chrysler executives want Dodge vehicles to meet three criteria. Bernhard says those criteria are: bold, powerful and capable. "It has got to be an in-your-face truck, an in-your-face Viper, an in-your-face Magnum," Bernhard says. "It is not just a vehicle that does what the other guys are doing. It has more towing capability. It has doors that open 90 degrees in the rear. It has more storage space. It is more powerful." Cultivating brand identity takes patience, he says, citing the success of Japanese automakers in the United States. "Consumers have a perception of what Toyota or Honda stands for," Bernhard says. "That is what we have to work on. It is not something you do with a short sprint. It is a marathon."

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