Chrysler to kill Town & Country minivan, Jeep Compass
Grand Caravan will be company’s only minivan
Chrysler Group, the inventor of the minivan, will drop the Chrysler Town & Country and keep the Dodge Grand Caravan as its only minivan in 2014.
It plans to discontinue the Jeep Compass small crossover at the same time.
News of the minivan plan was first reported by Automobile magazine and was confirmed to the Free Press by a person familiar with Chrysler’s plans.
Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne had said earlier that the company would go to one minivan, but most expected Town & Country to survive. Now, Marchionne tells the magazine that Grand Caravan will be the sole offering when the next-generation minivan arrives in 2014. The new Dodge van, will be “sportier, more emotional and less utilitarian,” according to Automobile.
Meanwhile, the Town & Country will be replaced in the Chrysler brand lineup by a new crossover — and it could keep the Town & Country name.
Marchionne decided on the Dodge brand van because the minivan first was introduced as a Dodge Caravan (and Plymouth Voyager) in 1983 by then-Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca.
Dave Sullivan, an auto analyst with AutoPacific, said some dealers favored keeping the pricier Town & Country for its larger profit margin. But he said the company may have decided the crossover replacement would attract more buyers as a Chrysler. And, he adds, “It’s likely that they are not going to kill the (Town & Country) name off. A crossover . . . could easily come back with that name.”
Chrysler Group’s two minivans cov- ered a wide price range: the Grand Caravan from about $20,000 to $30,000; the Town & Country from $30,000 to $40,000. With both, the company captured 50% of U.S. minivan sales in 2011 and 75% of sales in Canada. Sales through April are 45,865 for Grand Caravan, 38,507 for Town & Country. Both are built at the Windsor, Ontario, plant.
The Compass and its sibling, Jeep Patriot, are built in Belvidere, Ill., where Marchionne told reporters last week that the Compass would go. Workers there have begun building the new, Fiat-based Dodge Dart compact sedan, due on sale next month.
Marchionne has been working to eliminate models that compete with each other.