Dodge Grand Caravan live on..

[JTK]

I got this from another site, but apparently Fiat/Chrysler is not discontinuing the Grand Caravan, even with the debut of the all new/different Chrysler Town & Country.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars...9mb30009rc00dth

 

[cptbarkey]

Good, the plebs at FCA who were screaming and pointing to the sales excel sheets finally got through to the water heads.

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: JTK
I got this from another site, but apparently Fiat/Chrysler is not discontinuing the Grand Caravan, even with the debut of the all new/different Chrysler Town & Country.. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars...9mb30009rc00dth

Well that makes more sense, up here T&C money goes into a Sienna or Odyssey. Lots and lots of Caravans sold though, and at the price, no one will care if it isn't updated for a few years. Often the Caravan is in the top 5 vehicles sold in Canada.

 

[Hokiefyd]

That's an interesting strategy. Have the all new van available, and keep building the old one as long as folks keep buying it. I think Ford did that a time or two. I recall them doing it with the F-150 -- they sold the former model as the "F-150 Heritage" or something like that for a while along side. I'm thinking they did that with one of the earlier generations of the Taurus, too, but I could be wrong on that.

 

[The_Jeff]

GM kept making the previous generation Saturn VUE as the chevy Captiva.

Nissan kept a year overlap with the Rogue old & new body styles.

Ford's heritage thing as I understand it was that they run ~4 plants making F150s and they retool them one at a time. You sometimes notice 3/4 and 1-ton trucks with the old cab style for an extra year when they do a changeover.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
GM kept making the previous generation Saturn VUE as the chevy Captiva.

Nissan kept a year overlap with the Rogue old & new body styles.

Ford's heritage thing as I understand it was that they run ~4 plants making F150s and they retool them one at a time. You sometimes notice 3/4 and 1-ton trucks with the old cab style for an extra year when they do a changeover.


The Chevy Captiva was fleet only, as is the old body style Chevrolet Impala "Limited".

GM must have finally killed off the Captiva, as a local municipality ordered one, and had the order cancelled. GM must feel that the demand for the Equinox has finally leveled out.

As far as the Impala, when they use the term "limited", they must mean "limited to fleets"...

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Wagons to Conversion Vans to Minivans to Crossovers and SUVs

Sadly most "suv" vehicles anymore aren't made for sport like originally intended.

Unless you want to take a Durango Citadel or Cadillac Escalade off road, not much sport anymore.

Seen a gmc terrain mudding once.
Sigh

I want to see a resurgence of Wagons though.

Ie. A new Jeep Wagoneer.

Wood grain needs to be a thing again.

 

[MNgopher]

eljefino's got it right - the '04 Heritage F150's were made at the same time as the "new" 2004 F150. Ford retooled one plant at a time to make the transition, and thus there was some overlap in the model years... Believe the Heritages (and previous body styles) were made in Norfolk, Kansas City, and Oakville Ontario, while the 2004+ models were made in Kansas City, Norfolk, and Dearborn.

 

[fdcg27]

Ford did better than that.
They continued the Aerostar for several years after the Windstar had come into production.
We bought one of the last 1997 Aerostars built new and it was a great vehicle that gave no trouble at all in the thirteen years and 175K we used it.
I did have to replace the starter around 150K, but it was cheap and easy.

 

[Andrew1972]

Its has massive fleet and rental sales which helps dilute resale. Fleet/rental companies could care less about generation.

 

[KrisZ]

It's great news since up here Toyota and Honda are asking stupid money for their vans. Grand Caravan will continue selling very well as the lower priced option.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Yeah. That made no sense.

It is a huge seller, the cheapest on the minivan market new (with the value package).


They can't cost a ton to make. Everything in their lineup has the Pentastar engine now. The transaxle is pushing 10 years so its development costs are long gone. And the powertrain is used in the ProMaster.

Though selling it for $6000 more with less features with the name "RAM" C/V does seem appealing.