Automotive News Canada - August 2020 - 24

24

* AUGUST 2020

Grand finale? Hardly
A familiar name
carries forward to
a different minivan
platform and with
a $5,150 increase
in base price

By ELLEN VAN WAGENINGEN
WINDSOR CORRESPONDENT

DEALERS ARE SUPPORTING
a decision by Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles (FCA) to move the
Grand Caravan badge to a new
minivan based on the Chrysler
Pacifica.
As the aging platform
underpinning the current
Dodge Grand Caravan is
retired, FCA has chosen to
transfer more than three
decades of brand equity instead
of starting from scratch with
another name.
"We've been an advocate
for keeping the name . . . we're
very happy about that," said
Danny Diamantakos, dealer
principal at Peel Fiat-Chrysler
near Toronto.
"If you were to walk down
the street and ask some-

body if they've heard of a
Chrysler Grand Caravan or a
Dodge Grand
Caravan, then
their answer
would be yes.
Everybody
knows about
it."
The Grand
Caravan repDiamantakos:
resents 20 per The Chrysler
cent of the
Grand
Caravan is
sales at Peel
Fiat-Chrysler. "probably the
best value in
"[The current model is] Canada, and
it's always
a seven-pasbeen like
senger vehithat,"
cle [with]
FILE PHOTO
lots of cargo
space, and it's priced right,"
Diamantakos said. "It's probably the best value in Canada,
and it has always been like
that."

A GRAND BARGAIN
In July, FCA Canada
announced that the Pacificabased Chrysler Grand Caravan
will be the budget-friendly
model of its minivan line for
the 2021 model year. It arrives
as the 12-year run of the
fifth-generation Dodge Grand

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Caravan comes to an end.
Maintaining the name came
amid consultations with the
automaker's dealer network,
said Lou Ann Gosselin, FCA
Canada spokeswoman.
The Pacifica and the Grand
Caravan are built at FCA's
minivan plant in Windsor,
Ont. Also made there is the
Chrysler Voyager, a lowerpriced model based on the
Pacifica for the U.S. market.
The Grand Caravan name is
more popular in Canada where
it has been the top-selling minivan over the last 29 years,
based on statistics provided by DesRosiers Automotive
Consultants Inc. It racked up
45.6 per cent of all minivan
sales in 2019, while the Pacifica
accounted for just six per cent,
according to the Automotive
News Data Center in Detroit.
"We felt it was important
to preserve the brand equity that we have built with the
Grand Caravan nameplate over
the last 36 years," said Mike
Szymkiewicz, FCA Canada's
senior manager of product
strategy and volume planning.
The manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) for the
base model of the new Chrysler

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While the Chrysler
Pacifica is
redesigned for
2021, the Grand,
Caravan, pictured,
will look like the
current Pacifica.
PHOTO: FCA

FCA Canada justifies
increasing the base price
for 2021 to $37,995, plus the
destination charge, as the
current base model of the
Dodge Grand Caravan at
$32,845 accounted for just
20.3 per cent of sales in 2019.
PHOTO: FCA

Grand Caravan is $37,995, plus
destination fee. It will also
come in an SXT model with an
MSRP of $39,995. Those prices are comparable to the SXT
and Premium
Plus models
of the current
Dodge Grand
Caravan,
which accounted for about
63 per cent
of 2019 sales,
Szymkiewicz: Szymkiewicz
Important
said.
to preserve
Gone is the
the Grand
Canada Value
Caravan's
Package, the
brand equity. cheapest verPHOTO:
sion of the
FCA CANADA
Dodge Grand
Caravan, which accounted for
20 per cent of sales in 2019. It
has an MSRP of $32,845 plus
the $1,895 destination charge
- $5,150 less than the new
Chrysler model, base price to
base price - and has often sold
for significantly less.
The consumer price for
the new Chrysler version
will likely be reduced once it
arrives at dealerships, said
Brian Murphy, vice-president
of research and analytics at
Canadian Black Book.

BUILDING ON BRAND EQUITY
Keeping the name
Canadians recognize is a smart
strategy, Murphy said. "I think
the challenge will be for the
salespeople to pitch the difference between the current
product and the new Grand
Caravan, which is on a completely new platform and does
drive much nicer than its predecessor," he said.
The name and still-competitive pricing will attract the
budget-conscious buyers, said
Brian Johnston, president of
Johnston Auto Group, which
has dealerships in Vernon and
Kelowna, B.C.
"In terms of packages, I
think there's lots of flexibility
with that vehicle. I think the
bottom line is there are still

families out there and companies who find great use for
them."
Pricing will be key, said Jim
McManes, owner of McManes
Auto Group, which has three
Dodge-Chrysler dealerships in
Calgary.
"There's a market for it if
they price it properly - and
I'm sure they're going to price
it properly - but it's certainly a diminished market,"
McManes said,
adding that the
minivan segment is price
sensitive.
"They have
to be affordMcManes:
able."
Pricing will
Canadian
be key to
minivan sales
determining
peaked at 16.8
the sales
per cent of the
success of
market in 1999 the 2021
and trailed off
Grand
to 3.2 per cent
Caravan.
in 2019 as buyFILE PHOTO
ers flocked to
utility vehicles.
In a vote of confidence, the
remaining competitors in the
segment - Honda, Kia and
Toyota - are introducing new
or freshened models for 2021.
Of note, the Toyota Sienna will
be available only as hybrid.
The 2021 Chrysler Pacifica
will have an updated interior and exterior and offer an
all-wheel-drive version. The
Chrysler Grand Caravan will
have the same appearance as
the 2020 Pacifica. FCA has yet
to announce pricing for the
restyled Pacifica. The Grand
Caravan will arrive in the
fourth quarter of this year as a
2021 model. - ANC

SALES
BREAKDOWN
Per cent sales of each
Grand Caravan trim
in 2019. Prices do not
include the $1,895 destination fee.
* Canada Value Package
($32,845): 20.3%
* SXT ($39,445): 13.4%
* Premium Plus
($43,945): 49.3%
* Crew/Crew Plus
($42,645): 7.6%
* GT ($47,845): 9.3%
Source: FCA Canada
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Automotive News Canada - August 2020

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