posted 10-21-2003 10:26 AM         

Chrysler goes on campaign trail for rwd

NEW YORK - The Chrysler group plans to train its dealer sales force to push the benefits of rear-wheel drive in time for the spring introduction of the Chrysler 300.

The move follows 26 years of touting the benefits of front-wheel drive. The challenge is to convince skeptical owners of front-drive cars, especially those in the Snowbelt, that Chrysler has done everything possible to make the rwd driving experience nearly invisible.

"We have to provide people with reasons and prove that this car performs just as well as their other vehicles in inclement weather," says Scott Slagle, senior brand manager for Chrysler passenger cars.

The 300 sedan and Dodge Magnum wagon are the first high-volume cars developed by the Chrysler group since Chrysler Corp. was purchased by Daimler-Benz AG in 1998.

The cars, developed from the Chrysler group's new LX platform, share about 20 percent of their parts with the Mercedes-Benz C class and E class. They replace the fwd Dodge Intrepid and Chrysler Concorde and 300M. "Before the end of the year or beginning of next year - before the cars start to arrive in the showrooms - there will be a major training initiative on the benefits of rwd," Slagle says.

Dealers will get information

While improvements in cornering and overall driveablility will be among the topics discussed, a key element will be providing dealers with information to tell buyers there are no disadvantages to rear drive.

Joseph Grace, senior manager of large-car platform engineering, says that when the 300 and Magnum were being developed, the team asked itself, "How do you make all those people, whose last (rear-drive) experience was maybe 15 years ago, feel comfortable?"

Grace says the solution comes in the form of nearly 50:50 weight distribution for 2.7- and 3.5-liter V-6 models, all-season tires engineered specifically for the cars, electronic stability control, all-speed traction control and antilock brakes. The weight distribution is 52:48 on the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 models.

The key selling feature for some dealers likely will be electronic stability control, which in conjunction with antilock brakes and traction control reduces slipping and sliding on snow and ice. The option price was not announced.

Referring to the electronic stability control system that the 300 and Magnum share with the Mercedes-Benz C class, Grace says: "We have a very good system that we have spent hundreds of hours working on. Don't at all get the impression that we are taking this stuff and plugging it in. This is highly developed."

If buyers still aren't convinced that stability control will be enough, snow tires will be available through each Chrysler dealer's parts department.

Chrysler's 300 line is composed of one body style, a sedan.

Electronic stability control, traction control and antilock brakes will be standard on the 300C, the top-of-the-line model with the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8. All of the equipment will be optional on the base model, called the 300. Still to be determined is whether some or all of that equipment will be standard on the 300 Touring and 300 Limited, also sedans. While prices and sales estimates were not announced, Slagle says the base Chrysler 300 model will be priced to compete with the base Buick LeSabre, which starts at $26,470, including freight.

Wanted: Buyers 43 to 58

Slagle says Chrysler is aiming the 300 at buyers between 43 and 58 with a household income of $85,000. "As you move up through the ranks, each group starts to get a little bit younger," he says.

Jeff Schuster, director of product analysis at J.D. Power and Associates of Westlake Village, Calif., expects annual sales of around 70,000 units.