AUTOMAKERS SEEM TO BE LOSING IT,
Chrysler Pacifica’s price tag just one sign automakers are losing it
It may not be the official definition of insanity. It may not even be attributable to Albert Einstein, as has so often been claimed. But just because Salon. com claims “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result” is “the most overused cliché of all time” doesn’t make it any less true.
To wit: FCA Canada just released the details of its reintroduction of the Chrysler Pacifica, and it’s an eerily familiar story. We’ve seen this script before — same name, same marketing strategy — pretty much identical in every way, save for the fact that, this time, we pretty much know how the story ends.
Chrysler’s intent — as it was back in 2004 — is to build a minivan for people who hate minivans. Now that would seem a little insane but, to use another tired old cliché, there is a little method to its madness. The 2017 Pacifica, just like the stillborn 2004 edition, is to offer the convenience of a minivan, the handling of a sedan and, most importantly, at least to company insiders, look as little like a traditional Chrysler minivan as possible.
Considering FCA now owns about 70 per cent of the minivan market, this looks very much like the same self- loathing that saw the first Pacifica become such a dismal failure. To paraphrase Chuck Palahniuk, author of Invisible Monsters, “When we don’t know who to compete with, we compete with ourselves.”
But it’s FCA’s pricing strategy that seems the most self-flagellating. Again, Chrysler’s intent is to drive the (pseudo) minivan’s price toward the luxury segment, to generate ( it hopes) more profit from a traditionally low-margin product. Indeed, FCA seems to have doubled down on its intent to see the Pacifica again compete with Lexus and Mercedes- Benz. The recently announced price of $ 43,995 is but the opening bid for Pacifica ownership. There’s a more upscale Touring L- Plus trim offered at $46,995 and, if you want to move up all the way to the Limited model, your invoice will read $52,995 before Justin even begins tacking on his HST.
For those not currently shopping for a minivan, perhaps a little perspective is in order. Dodge Canada’s website currently offers a $28,995 Grand Caravan with a $ 7,100 discount. Yes, you can get in a Grand Caravan — with basically the same Pentastar V- 6 that powers the Pacifica — for $21,895.
Even a few FCA dealers I spoke with think this is ludicrous. One noted — obviously with more introspection than the parent company can muster — that the typical Chrysler minivan consumer is looking for the cheapest method of moving friends and family, not a blinged-out Mercedes competitor.
And there would appear to be more madness. Perhaps the craziest part is FCA’s plan to introduce a hybrid version of the Pacifica later this year. That could well see the price shoot right past $ 60,000. Sixty large for a Chrysler minivan! If that isn’t the definition of insanity, I don’t know what is.
Of course, for the theory of insanity attributed to Einstein to be relevant presumes the person realizes they are making the same mistake all over again. What happens when we simply forget the lessons of the past? Then it would seem George Santayana’s oft-misquoted prophecy that “those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it” is a more appropriate admonishment. Certainly, BMW and Mercedes-Benz don’t seem to be paying any heed to the prophetic battle Ford and General Motors waged back in the ’ 70s and ’80s. So locked in internecine battle were the two U. S. giants that they let some little- known Japanese upstart named Toyota gain a toehold in America. You can imagine their chagrin.
In an eerie parallel, one could make the argument that Audi’s current success is at least partially attributable to Munich/Stuttgart conceit. The automakers’ unbridled one- upmanship is reminiscent of 10- year- olds arguing over whose ball they’re going to play with. BMW bought Rolls-Royce; Mercedes-Benz ( disastrously) resurrected Maybach. BMW has a lineup of motorcycles: Mercedes-Benz buys MV Agusta. Perhaps more disastrously, both are challenging the very definition of luxury — Mercedes with B- Class-based CLAs and BMW with front-wheel-drive Active Tourers — as if Jaguar’s X-Type and Cadillac’s Cimarron never existed.
But nowhere is this rivalry more apparent than in their seemingly desperate need to outsell the other. To be sure, this is where the similarities with the Ford- GM feud seem the most glaring, with the same obsession with biweekly sales numbers and the same emphasis on sales incentives that drove the Detroit giants to distraction.
No discussion of automotive insanity would be complete without the latest on Volkswagen’s ongoing farce. Automotive News reported this week that VW’s recent ouster of American chief executive Michael Horn has U. S. dealers in open rebellion. Alan Brown, head of VW’s national dealer council, received more calls last week about dealers suing their parent company than he has in the previous six months, Automotive News reported. So crucial was the straight talking, dealer-friendly Horn to Volkswagen’s Diesel gate recovery, said the industry bible, that “if not for (Horn), the relations with the factory might have turned volatile months ago.”
“We’ve got to stop the insanity,” Brown said.
He’ll have to get in line.