Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Exclusive! Next Chrysler Voyager set to be Grand diesel only
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Exclusive! Next Chrysler Voyager set to be Grand diesel only

Date: 12 January 2007   |   Author: Guy Bird

Chrysler's first-ever top 100 fleet vehicle - the Voyager - will only be available in Grand, seven-seats plus luggage format when the all-new one arrives in early 2008.

Dropping the shorter length Voyager - which only represented 33% of total Voyager sales last year - will also create a clear space for Chrysler's new Dodge mini-MPV sister product to fill by late 2008.

More surprising still for a brand that until relatively recently didn't offer diesel engines at all, the new Voyager may shun petrol versions completely in favour of diesel-only power.

Chrysler Group's UK managing director, Peter Lambert, confided to BusinessCar: "There is so little demand for petrol and such good diesels sourced from Mercedes-Benz, I'm not sure if we're even going to launch a petrol version of the next Grand Voyager.

"The old engine split was 85/15% in favour of diesel and we had to push some of those petrol models via dealers. The natural demand for petrol 3.3-litre units was under 5%."

The new car was unveiled at the Detroit motorshow earlier this week trumpeting a development of its Stow 'N Go seating system featuring 180-degree swivelling chairs and a table top to socialise round, better controls and lighting, and triple zone aircon not possible on the existing diesel models.

The car will come to the UK with an all-new diesel 2.8-litre, which will go first into the new Jeep Wrangler due in April. Chrysler Group's product onslaught in 2007 and 2008 will include four Chrysler models plus three each from Dodge and Jeep and will help ambitious plans to increase its total sales from just over 20,000 in 2006 to 35,000 within three years.

In 2006, more than 8000 registrations (40%) went to fleet and business users and Lambert is looking to boost this figure to 50% within three years.



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