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Pacificas are arriving at dealer showrooms, though advertising has not yet begun. Chrysler will be helped by safety ratings - this month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will announce that the Chrysler Pacifica received five stars -- the highest rating a vehicle can earn -- for all frontal and side impact crash tests.
Pacifica is equipped with one of the world's first three-row side curtain air bags, inflatable knee blocker air bag and an advanced energy-absorbing steering column designed within a rigid body structure.
The 2004 Crossfire, a discontinued Mercedes model built in Germany using somewhat different body panels and incorporating tuning changes and minor cosmetic tweaks, will go on sale soon at $34,495, a substantial discount from its current selling price as a Mercedes. Chrysler's press release notes its "proven German engineering," which appears to have racked up unenviable reliability reports (compared with Chrysler) in that famous consumer magazine.
Even as GM reported a nasty 9 percent sales drop over last April, Chrysler lost 10 percent overall, month-to-month, and seven percent, year-to-date (all the following details are year-to-date, which compares Jan-April 2002 against Jan-April 2003).
The best showings were from the Liberty, with a year-to-date improvement of 6 percent, the Viper, up 45 percent (from 530 units to 770 over the first foru months of the year), and the Ramp pickup, with a hefty 4 percent rise (127,629 to 133,112 units). Caravan sales rose 1 percent - by 500 units - but Voyager sales fell 53 percent, or 8,000 units, and Town & Country sales fell 4 percent, or 1,800 units, so the minivan news is not good. The soon-to-be-discontinued Concorde managed a 9 percent sales hike, even as the better-selling Intrepid plummeted 27 percent, and the Wrangler posted a three percent gain which reflects about 600 units sold. 88 Sprinter vans - Mercedes vans sold under the Dodge and Freightliner labels - helped boost Dodge truck sales very slightly, while the loss of the Ram Wagon, 5,511 units last year, hurt the overall figure a bit.
That was all the good news. The bad news is continuing losses with key models. The Neon fell 1 percent, despite increased competition. The Stratus and Sebring fell by over 10,000 units - this time around, Chrysler only reported sales of the Stratus as a unified whole, so we cannot separate the Mitsubishi-made Stratus Coupe from the much more popular Chrysler-made Sedan and Convertible. The Intrepid, as noted, fell quite a bit, while the 300M held its own, losing only 90 sales from last year.
In the truck and minivan arena, 2,357 Pacificas were sold, which does not quite make up for all those thousands of lost minivan sales. PT Cruiser sales were down 17 percent as advertising ended and the fad buyers went elsewhere. Grand Cherokee sales dropped 17 percent, possibly influenced a bit by rumors of the new model, and also by the new competition from Chevy, Ford, and others.
Dakota sales fell 9 percent, or 4,000 units, while the Durango dropped seven percent.
Overall, cars were down 12 percent - trucks, 6 percent - minivans, 6 percent - SUVs, 6 percent for the year. Month to month, cars, trucks, and SUVs were all down 10 percent, while minivans fell 12 percent, with a promise of lower sales to come as Toyota's new Sienna makes a splash and Nissan revs up publicity on the upcoming Quest.
GlobalAuto noted the release of photos of the new smart forfour, which shares a basic platform with the Mitsubishi Colt and which may be showing up in the US as a Dodge.
A plant worker wrote: "McGraw Glass Plant (McGone Glass) has lost 50 % of its employees. The company is on pace to have nearly 95% of its product line outsourced by September 2003. There are NO new products even being discussed. The PM program inside the plant has been scuttled. Machinery gets fixed when it breaks and not a minute sooner. Some of the plant has been walled off. There are plenty of rumors to go around. I give you facts here. NO new work, 50% of the workforce layed off. Management is nearly all retirees (per diem) from the past taking the places of all the newer people who have left the plant. There is no talk of a future at Mcgraw Glass. Most managers are looking for jobs elsewhere in the corporation. Us union people who are layed off sit at the union hall to get a 40 hour check. Dieter and Wolfgang are always smiling when you see them. Have them come to McGraw and tell us face to face we have a place in the corporation."
Despite DCX's positioning of possible additional "asset sales" as a response to rising incentives and lower sales, it should be noted that preparation for plant sales and closings have been taking place for some time, according to employee reports.
This story has been removed by request.
Claiming that rising incentives and slowing sales made the move necessary, DCX announced further cost cutting at Chrysler even as the division posted an operating profit in the first quarter, its fourth consecutive operating-profitable quarter (though thanks to muddy accounting practices, we only have DCX's word that there was ever a loss at Chrysler). Year-to-date sales are down 8 percent through March 2003, and April does not look good. Chrysler is still in the midst of its earlier cost cutting plan, which involves losing 26,000 jobs and six plants.
While DCX says no more job cuts are planned, more assets may be sold within the year. We have a page on this topic. Chrysler's revenues still beat the commercial vehicles division, which does not appear to be facing cost cutting.
Dodge will be entertaining show goers at the SEMA IAS show with a 5-minute movie dubbed "The Invite." In "The Invite," Matt unexpectedly gets a call from his dream girl, Vanessa, who invites Matt to pick her up for a night out on the town. Unfortunately for Matt, he has no car. Fortunately for Matt, his older brother has gone out for the evening and his new Dodge SRT-4 is sitting in the driveway. So Matt does what any other young male would do in his situation and takes the SRT-4 out for the night.
The video features an SRT-4 encounter with a rival car and Matt's race to get home before his brother does.
"The Invite" will be shown in a theatre that will be set up by Dodge at the IAS show. In addition to the theatre, Dodge will have a booth where several street and race SRT-4s will be showcased, including Shaun Carlson’s Mopar SRT-4.
The video is designed to engage show goers through entertainment. "The Invite" is designed to let show goers see, here, and "feel" the SRT-4 in action.
The Dodge SRT-4 was recently chosen as Sport Compact Car of the Year by Sport Compact Car magazine and is the fastest car you can buy for under $20,000.
For those that cannot attend the show, the video is available online at www.dodge.com/srt-4.
Click here for ESPN's chat with Mopar drag racer Allen Johnson.
DaimlerChrysler first-quarter operating profit was $1.5 billion, a 38% ($420 million) increase over first-quarter 2002.
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