R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

CHRYSLER is aiming to nearly double its sales rate in Australia within three years to at least 14,000 units a year.

Underscoring this growth will be a vehicle range with at least 16 models by December 2007, spread across the Chrysler, Jeep and forthcoming Dodge brand.

"By the end of 2008 we are looking at 14,000 to 15,000," Chrysler Group Australia (CGA) managing director Gerry Jenkins told GoAuto last week.

"Ten thousand is the threshold where respectability begins."Mr Jenkins said he expected CGA to achieve 9000 units this year through "good solid marketing" and 10,000 in 2007. Last year, the US vehicle division of DaimlerChrysler sold 7557 vehicles in Australia, comprising 2479 Chryslers and 5078 Jeeps.

The latter was buoyed by the arrival of the third-generation Grand Cherokee and revised Cherokee during 2005, while Chrysler’s 300C luxury sedan releasedlast November has easily exceeded its initial sales monthly forecasts of around115 units.

In March this year, 159 were registered, with stocks of the V8 HEMI model being in very short supply since launch.

"It was our best month ever since buying back the distribution rights (from Astre Automotive in 1999)," Mr Jenkins said.

The group’s most recent new-model flurry kicked off last week with the introduction of the Chrysler 300C SRT-8 flagship.

Supply limitations mean it will only add about 300 units to the 2000 sales forecast CGA has recently revised for the 300C, however it will spearhead Chrysler into the local V8 performance sedan segment dominated by HSV and Ford’s FPV divisions.

It will also aid CGA’s plans to shift 3000 300Cs in 2007, which will be bolstered further by the 3.0-litre CRD V6 turbo-diesel engine option and Touring station wagon variants due by September.

An SRT version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee will also arrive around October, following the Jeep’s first MPV/4WD crossover wagon, the Commander, which is due in May.

Based on the Grand Cherokee, it is a boxier design intended to better-accommodate seven occupants.

A four-seater cabriolet version of the recently facelifted PT Cruiser willfollow in June.

Arguably the most important arrival for the CGA for 2006 will be the Dodge Caliber hatchback – returning the 90-year old nameplate to Australia for the first time since the 1970s.

Built on an all-new front-wheel drive platform and powered by a 2.0-litre or 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine, it will pitch the Americans straight into the biggest sales segment in Australia, the surging small-car market.

However, since supply cannot keep up North American demand, where the Belvedere, Illinois-built Caliber debuted in January, the original 1200 sales mooted are now in doubt.

A Caliber SRT-4 is also on the cards for a late-2007 release, powered by a 223kW turbocharged version of the 2.4. The second Dodge contender will be the Nitro, due around next February.

Loosely based on the ageing Jeep Cherokee platform, the Nitro is a separate chassis mid-sized 4WD wagon powered by V6 petrol and diesel engines.

At around the same time as the Nitro’s intro will be the Jeep Compass, the most car-like vehicle to wear the 4WD specialist’s badge. While it is Jeep’s compact 4WD weapon against Toyota’s top-selling RAV4, the recently announced,chunkier Patriot will follow the Compass here by the middle of next year.

Based on the Caliber platform, both the Compass and Patriot will slot underneath the Cherokee in Jeep’s line-up.

According to Mr Jenkins, both vehicles will "really open (Jeep) up" to a new market segment in Australia. CGA says that more details will be revealed at the Sydney motor show in October, along with the expected first-showings of the two compact 4WDs.

Further down the track is the production version of the Challenger muscle car, revealed as a concept car in Detroit in January, along with last month’s Mini-esque Dodge Hornet.

Both are still to be confirmed for Australia, but Mr Jenkins is keen to include these within CGA’s portfolio.

This year’s hive of new-model activity will bring the total CGA model count to 14, up from 10 in 2005, seven in 2004 and just five in 2003.

What's coming from Chrysler-Jeep

JEEP:
Commander - May
Grand Cherokee SRT-8 - October
New Jeep Wrangler - Early 2007
Jeep Compass - Second quarter 2007
Jeep Patriot - Mid-2007CHRYSLER:
PT Cabrio - June
300C Touring - September
300C Diesel - SeptemberDODGE:
Dodge Caliber - August
Dodge Nitro - Early 2007
Caliber SRT-4 - Late 2007
Challenger - 2008
Hornet 2008