Chrysler Says, “Dodge This!”
Chrysler’s brand new showroom is soon set to house a wide range of red-hot products
By Hadi Soedarsono
CHRYSLER’S NEW SHOWROOM officially opened its doors on December 14th at 30 Leng Kee Road, and the move to its spacious new premises is only the first salvo in what promises to be the largest barrage of American automotive products ever to hit the local car market.
As exclusively revealed in issue 36 of CarBuyer, Chrysler Jeep Automotive (a unit of Komoco Motors) is set to introduce the Dodge brand here early next year. The three American marques under Komoco’s purview, Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, will cumulatively field 17 different models come 2008. All three brands are part of the DaimlerChrysler Group.
After years of being confined to one corner of a Hyundai showroom, Chrysler’s new home is located at Komoco’s flagship Alexandra Road building, beside the showroom of Harley-Davidson (another of Komoco’s brands) in premises recently vacated by Peugeot distributor, AutoFrance.
CarBuyer asked Eric Chia, the general manager of Chrysler Jeep Automotive of Singapore, how things are likely to shape up for the American brand, now that that new showroom is up and running.
CarBuyer: What are your plans for the next few years?
Eric Chia: We currently have six main models for Chrysler and Jeep combined. During the last Chrysler international conference, we were shown the full range of products up to the 2008 model year. There
are many of them that we plan to bring in.
In fact, we are looking at introducing 17 new models for our market in the next three years. Also, in addition to Chrysler and Jeep, we have the Dodge brand for next year. Expect to see a lot of interesting products from Dodge and we are even planning to bring in the Viper (Dodge’s V10-engined supercar, pictured right) once a right-hand drive version is available. From Jeep, we will have the Compass, which is a Cherokee with a smaller engine. Then there’s the Commander, a seven-seater SUV, and the all-new Wrangler that’ll be available in four and two-door versions.
As for Chrysler, we may get the PT Cruiser Cabriolet by next February. In mid-2007, we will have the Sebring, which is a family sedan with the same 2.4-litre engine as the Hyundai Sonata. It’s positioned in the Toyota Camry segment. In that same year, the all-new Grand Voyager will be launched.
CB: Since Chrysler was first introduced here there has never been such a large product line-up. Why the sudden change?
EC: DaimlerChrysler believes the automotive industry of our region has strong potential for growth and it feels it has neglected the Asian market for the past few years. This is why it plans to introduce a lot of new cars in the near future. As a matter of fact from 2006 onwards, whenever Chrysler launches a new model, a right-hand drive version will be made available six months after.
CB: What are the main selling points of your products compared to those of your competitors?
EC: Competitive pricing. For example, the Sebring will give its competitors a good run for their money, just like the 300C. It’s supposed to compete in same segment as the BMW 5 Series but we’ve priced it about 20 percent lower.
CB: With so many products in the pipeline, will there be room in the new showroom?
EC: This (place) may not be enough in the future. With 17 new models for the next three years it’s very likely we will have to look around for new showrooms soon.
CB: How many cars did you put on the road this year? And with 17 new models on the way what will be your new target volume?
EC: For both Chrysler and Jeep, we’re looking at a total of 230 cars for this year. In the next three years, with the three brands combined, we believe we can do about 800 cars annually.
Next year we are targeting 250 to 300 units.
CB: Are there any plans to revamp existing customer loyalty programs?
EC: With regards to customer loyalty programs, we currently operate the Jeep Club. We organise adventure events in Malaysia every year to go off-roading. The next step is probably to set up a club for the 300C owners, their numbers are growing and we get many requests from them.
Other than that we may even do a joint event with Harley-Davidson. Our principal is toying with the idea of organising a quarter-mile festival, which is basically a friendly drag race for all the owners.
On a more regular basis, we plan to have events like country music festivals or something to that extent every month. The activities we plan to do will be different from what you normally get here. For starters, they will be very American in focus.
