Windsor-built Pacificas earn top industry honours
In 1984, after its first year of production, the innovative Windsorbuilt minivan that took the family-hauling auto market by storm earned a single honour, the “Zinc Institute Award of Excellence for Corrosion Protection.”
The Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager would go on to win a “Car and Driver 10 Best” award the following year before — along with the Town and Country model — winning more than 300 additional awards over the next three decades.
Compare that to Windsor Assembly Plant’s newest product. Just this past week, in only the first year of production, the plant’s 2017 Chrysler Pacifica and Pacifica Hybrid scooped up awards No. 60 and No. 61.
“We’ve been overwhelmed. We’re seeing great results,” said Matt McAlear, Fiat Chrysler’s senior manager, Passenger Car Brand — NAFTA.
“The biggest thing, terrific for us to have, is that these are thirdparty endorsements,” he told the Star.
The J.D. Power 2017 U.S. APEAL Study award for highest-ranking minivan, as determined by purchasers 90 days after acquisition, was a biggie, a strong indicator of quality and customer satisfaction. The Pacifica had previously rated top minivan in the J.D. Power 2017 Initial Quality Study.
On Monday, the Pacifica won in the full-vehicle category at the fifth annual Altair Enlighten Awards for innovation in automotive lightweighting. Judges marvelled at the vehicle’s improved impact-protection rating despite a reduced weight, obtained through steel-plastic overmoulds and aluminum and cast magnesium in the body.
“The 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is our engineering response to the rapidly changing industry climate,” Phil Jansen, head of product development for FCA North America, said in accepting the latest accolade in Traverse City, Mich. “Customers are in need of ever-greater efficiency, but not at the expense of functionality — the Pacifica’s spacious package, delivered with a reduction in mass, allows us to exceed expectations,” Jansen said.
Some of the 6,000 Unifor Local 444 workers who assemble the Pacifica, honoured as North American Utility Vehicle of the Year at the 2017 Detroit Auto Show, were pulled off the line Wednesday for a celebration of, and photos with, the prestigious J. D. Power awards.
“The quality is there — we are really proud of our Windsor production facility,” said McAlear, who is based out of FCA’s Auburn Hills headquarters.
With the awards pouring in for an all-new product in its first year, McAlear said it’s proving a boon for the company’s marketing department.
“It’s easy for us to go out and say, ‘This is a great vehicle,’” he said. In advertising featuring the Pacifica’s safety features and top ratings, its functionality and versatility, as well as its cutting-edge technology and styling, McAlear said pointing to these awards “resonates better” with potential customers, and FCA has been tracking an upswing in potential buyer interest.
The message is getting out to its intended audience.
“If you’re looking for the perfect family vehicle, the Chrysler Pacifica is tough to beat,” said Ed Hellwig, senior editor with Edmunds. com Inc., an online automotive information company. Each year, Edmunds and Parents magazine examine and assess hundreds of new vehicles, and the magazine’s July issue featured the Pacifica as “best minivan” on its list of “10 Best Family Cars of 2017.”
Among the other accolades: the 2017 Chrysler Pacifica is U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Minivan for the Money;” winner of MotorWeek’s Driver’s Choice Award for Best Minivan; Kelley Blue Book’s Best Buy Minivan; and winner of WardsAuto awards for best user experience, best engine and best interior.
Car and Driver, in honouring the Pacifica as its 2017 best van, didn’t mince words about its Windsor heritage, describing the mid-’80s “original utilitarian tin boxes” — Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan — as “the cheap, rattly threedoor contraption you rode in as a child en route to ballet lessons or hockey practice.” But all that is replaced with gushing praise for the 2017 Pacifica.
“Using the best of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group’s minivan technology, including stow-andgo seats, Chrysler has evolved the Windsor, Ontario-built minivan into a stylish family cruiser with great driving dynamics and thoughtful innovations to keep kids entertained on long trips,” said autoTRADER.ca in naming the Pacifica its 2017 Top Minivan.
As of the end of 2016, seven out of 10 minivans sold in Canada were built at the Windsor Assembly Plant, according to LouAnn Gosselin, FCA Canada’s head of communications.
Across the border, the top cities for Pacifica sales volumes are New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia, said McAlear.
In terms of the highest share of minivan sales, the top states for Windsor-built product are Michigan, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Wyoming, North Dakota and Wisconsin, he said.
The company said it could not divulge Windsor Assembly Plant production numbers.
The quality is there — we are really proud of our Windsor production facility.