Chrysler News: Chrysler Voyager To Replace Dodge Grand Caravan

[Drew Dowdell]

The Dodge Caravan is one of the vehicles that helped saved Chrysler Corporation in the 1980s. Introduced in November 1983, the Caravan, along with the Plymouth Voyager, was based on the K-Car platform championed by Lee Iaccoca.  Chrysler recently re-introduced the Voyager under the Chrysler brand as the low cost entry into the minivan market. The Voyager is a low cost version of the Chrysler Pacifica Minivan that was introduced in 2016.  Dodge continued production of the Grand Caravan as the low-cost model while the Pacifica aims for higher end customers.

The Voyager, starting at $26,958, will come in three trims, L, LX, and LXi, the last one reserved for fleet buyers. Chrysler has previously taken this two-prong approach of Voyager being the value option and Town & Country being the premium offering during the 2001 - 2007 time frame. Voyager production begins in August 2019 at Chrysler's Windsor Ontario plant and will run alongside the Grand Caravan for now.

If you're looking for a Grand Caravan, you have some time left.  The Grand Caravan is scheduled to go out of production in May 2020. 

View full article

[surreal1272]

So, if I’m reading this right, the Voyager will be the same body style as the Pacifica? 

 

Why doesn’t FCA just come out and say “We really don’t give two farts about Dodge and it’s survival”?

[Drew Dowdell]

3 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

So, if I’m reading this right, the Voyager will be the same body style as the Pacifica? 

 

Why doesn’t FCA just come out and say “We really don’t give two farts about Dodge and it’s survival”?

The picture of the blue minivan in the article is the Voyager. 

[surreal1272]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The picture of the blue minivan in the article is the Voyager. 

That’s what I thought. I get the Chrysler strategy behind this but abandoning the Caravan seems like a harbinger of things to come for Dodge. Absolutely no new product in the pipeline outside of just talk from FCA. That’s damn near criminal. 

[David]

Wonder how long and which ones will last the CUV craze? Could it be FCA, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai still or will it reduce down to 1 or 2 only? 🤔

[frogger]

I really have to wonder if if Kia will keep making the Sedona based on the sales figures of less than 20k a year in the US, especially now that they have what appears to be a very popular three row CUV.

 

 

 

 

 

[smk4565]

45 minutes ago, surreal1272 said:

That’s what I thought. I get the Chrysler strategy behind this but abandoning the Caravan seems like a harbinger of things to come for Dodge. Absolutely no new product in the pipeline outside of just talk from FCA. That’s damn near criminal. 

Wouldn’t surprise me if the next gen Durango becomes a Chrysler Aspen.  I have no idea what they are doing but to make the Caravan until May 2020 when production of this generation started in 2007 is pretty nuts.

I don’t get why you creat a new model to advertise when it is the same as the Pacifica for $4k less.  

What Chrysler should have done is decontented the Pacifica and stripped it down and then charged $20k more for it like Porsche does.   A 2 seat Pacifica Superlegerra with no carpeting or stereo would be money.

[Drew Dowdell]

The next generation Durango is going to be a Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

[daves87rs]

Miss miss the Caravan though....still like the style!!!

[texas99alpha]

Sometimes I feel that Fiat knows less about American market product than Daimler did. Daimler at least flooded the product pipeline and was very forward looking with crossovers and new concepts - maybe they were a little too early. Daimler's problem was that they thought American product ought to be done as cheaply as possible - damn styling and interior quality. Fiat on the other hand will put a lot of capital in just a few products - but their brand strategy is very confusing and diluted. In either scenario, I'm not sure the guys at Auburn Hills ever have much say. 93-99 was really the golden era and will never return.

[Robert Hall]

If the Dodge brand is still around in 5 years, it will just be the Charger and Challenger I suspect. 

[riviera74]

6 hours ago, smk4565 said:

Wouldn’t surprise me if the next gen Durango becomes a Chrysler Aspen.  I have no idea what they are doing but to make the Caravan until May 2020 when production of this generation started in 2007 is pretty nuts.

I don’t get why you creat a new model to advertise when it is the same as the Pacifica for $4k less.  

What Chrysler should have done is decontented the Pacifica and stripped it down and then charged $20k more for it like Porsche does.   A 2 seat Pacifica Superlegerra with no carpeting or stereo would be money.

The Chrysler Voyager should be $10K less to start, not $4K.  The 2-seat Pacifica Superlegerra is SO NOT CHRYSLER.

[smk4565]

10 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The next generation Durango is going to be a Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

True, and the 300 is supposed to die so Chrysler will be a brand with 2 minivans?  And no other product?   Doesn’t seem like a good business model.

[Robert Hall]

8 hours ago, smk4565 said:

True, and the 300 is supposed to die so Chrysler will be a brand with 2 minivans?  And no other product?   Doesn’t seem like a good business model.

Since Ram and Jeep are so strong, they can support two small brands (if they jettison the walking dead Italian brands). 

[Drew Dowdell]

The solution to saving Chrysler is clear to anyone who isn't actually at Chrysler. 

Take the Pacifica platform and build premuim crossovers out of it. 

Build a premium crossover out of the Cherokee.

 

Notice I didn't say full luxury, but at least take on Buick and some of Lincoln (though I think Lincoln is moving up fast in the world)

[riviera74]

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The solution to saving Chrysler is clear to anyone who isn't actually at Chrysler. 

Take the Pacifica platform and build premuim crossovers out of it. 

Build a premium crossover out of the Cherokee.

 

Notice I didn't say full luxury, but at least take on Buick and some of Lincoln (though I think Lincoln is moving up fast in the world)

All true.  Too bad GM will not do the right thing and make Cadillac take on RR/Bentley while Buick takes on MB/BMW/Audi/Lexus.

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

The solution to saving Chrysler is clear to anyone who isn't actually at Chrysler. 

Take the Pacifica platform and build premuim crossovers out of it. 

Build a premium crossover out of the Cherokee.

 

Notice I didn't say full luxury, but at least take on Buick and some of Lincoln (though I think Lincoln is moving up fast in the world)

Couldn’t they use the Georgio platform for crossovers?  

I don’t think it is as simple as give Chrysler crossovers however.  Most of Jeep’s and Alfa’s crossovers are down this year, the market is shrinking and everyone else has 6-7 crossovers per brand.  

I don’t think a Pacifica based crossover would make any dent in the market, although it would be a better idea than trying to sell the Voyager and current Journey and 300.

1 hour ago, riviera74 said:

All true.  Too bad GM will not do the right thing and make Cadillac take on RR/Bentley while Buick takes on MB/BMW/Audi/Lexus.

Cadillac can’t even take on Mercedes/Lexus, how is Buick supposed to?   

Buick will probably become an SUV only brand in the USA, leaving Cadillac as the only sedan options above the Malibu at GM when the Impala dies.  The CT4 will probably start at $30k so you don’t really need a Buick sedan unless it is so cheap to  rebadge a Malibu into a Lacrosse then why not.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

Couldn’t they use the Georgio platform for crossovers?  

I don’t think it is as simple as give Chrysler crossovers however.  Most of Jeep’s and Alfa’s crossovers are down this year, the market is shrinking and everyone else has 6-7 crossovers per brand.  

I don’t think a Pacifica based crossover would make any dent in the market, although it would be a better idea than trying to sell the Voyager and current Journey and 300.

Big, people mover, crossovers are in right now and FCA only has one, the Durango.  A Pacifica based one would compete with the upper end Pilots, Traverse High Country, and Buick Enclave.  Probably the Palisade and Telluride as well. It would bring in $$$$

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Big, people mover, crossovers are in right now and FCA only has one, the Durango.  A Pacifica based one would compete with the upper end Pilots, Traverse High Country, and Buick Enclave.  Probably the Palisade and Telluride as well. It would bring in $$$$

Daimler tried that with the original Pacifica that was a 6 seat crossover (sort of crossover) and the full size Aspen.  And both got killed off after 1 generation.  

The problem is I don’t think many people want a Chrysler SUV when they can buy a more reliable Honda or Toyota product or buy a Hyundai/Kia with a better warranty, or a rwd based Explorer or the other 10 SUVs in that segment.  Chrysler does nothing well to steal buyers.

[Drew Dowdell]

I never understood why they killed the first Pacifica. It might have been a little ahead of it's time for a crossover that size. The Aspen was just ugly.

[Paolino]

On 7/24/2019 at 11:38 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

The picture of the blue minivan in the article is the Voyager. 

............................ isn't that a Pacifica?  With the Chrysler logo/wings on it?!

[daves87rs]

On 7/24/2019 at 5:52 PM, Robert Hall said:

If the Dodge brand is still around in 5 years, it will just be the Charger and Challenger I suspect. 

Riding on the same LX platform.... 😉 

Not that it is a bad thing though......

[Drew Dowdell]

37 minutes ago, Paolino said:

............................ isn't that a Pacifica?  With the Chrysler logo/wings on it?!

Voyager is just the lowest trim of a Pacifica. They use the same body.

[daves87rs]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Voyager is just the lowest trim of a Pacifica. They use the same body.

Kinda wish it was different  somehow....

My guess is that it is keeping those shifts running with something they can lease special.....

[Drew Dowdell]

8 hours ago, daves87rs said:

Kinda wish it was different  somehow....

My guess is that it is keeping those shifts running with something they can lease special.....

The Pacifica had those trims before.  They're just separating the lower end trims from the Pacifica.  They are dropping the base price by about $2,000, so I'm sure some content is coming out of it. 

[David]

Wonder what they will do with the Hybrid? 🤔

[Drew Dowdell]

9 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Wonder what they will do with the Hybrid? 🤔

It'll still be there. 

[David]

10 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

It'll still be there. 

Be cool if they do a Hybrid Sport as well as their current normal one. Have two different programmings so you can choose spirited driving or ultimate efficiency.

[ocnblu]

5 hours ago, dfelt said:

Wonder what they will do with the Hybrid? 🤔

Drop it, if they're smart.

Like the Rogue Hybrid which no one knew or cared about.

[daves87rs]

On 7/26/2019 at 9:01 AM, Drew Dowdell said:

The Pacifica had those trims before.  They're just separating the lower end trims from the Pacifica.  They are dropping the base price by about $2,000, so I'm sure some content is coming out of it. 

One big thing I noticed was no stow and go. Bench seat could be okay, if it comes out easy.....

Think it would be cool if they did something slight different with the voyager, like maybe giving it a sporty “expresso: package.....