The Chrysler Rental Car Strategy
Dan Neil, automotive journalist for the LA Times, wrote about the all-new Chrysler 300 last week. He confirmed my worst fears. It wasn't his scathing review of the base model 300; rather it was that he had rented it at an airport in Texas. I had seen several of the all new 300s running around LA before its official dealer preview a couple weeks ago. The cars running around already had California plates with no frames (first clue). When I found one at the local IHOP, I got out to check to see if it was the flagship 300C (it wasn't) and when I looked inside, I found signs of maps, clothes thrown in the back seat and other signs that the car had been on a trip (clue 2). I speculated to my friend that perhaps this was a Chrysler press car because the car hadn't yet been introduced to the public for sale. He took one look at it and said it looked like an ordinary rental car. He saw the Chrysler badge and said that it reminded him of the much maligned K-Cars Chrysler pushed on the public as it struggled to keep the doors open in the early 1980s. It did look smaller than I had expected.
Mr. Neil confirmed that these were not press cars, but rental cars! The marketing geniuses at Chrysler must have thought it was a great idea to flood the rental car fleets with the new 300 to get the public used to the look and feel of the car by giving the most undesirable models directly to the rental fleets. Big mistake.
In Los Angeles, no one aspires to drive one of the junk cars in a rental fleet. It's like death to any car. Perhaps the brain trust in Auburn Hills thinks that the people in Michigan are dying to buy an Olds Alero or a Pontiac Bonneville, but in LA, those cars are strictly rentals. I have yet to see one of those cars with in-state plates that weren't rentals. Chrysler execs were crowing about how they weren't going to botch the introduction of the 300 like they botched the introduction of the Pacifica, a bloated station wagon earlier this year. Unfortunately, I don't think the marketing suits and all their focus groups understood why the Pacifica was a flop.
It was a flop because it was a big, over-priced station wagon with boring styling, numb handling and cheap Chrysler plastics. It wasn't fast or fun. It wasn't innovative like the PT Cruiser. And fit and finish weren't that great on the one I drove. The marketing department blamed the slow sales on the improper mix of product. There weren't enough low-end front drive models on the market, only the more expensive all-wheel drive versions with leather seats, navigation package, etc. I think the public would have accepted a cool Chrysler wagon priced in the mid-30s range if it didn't look like a fat anonymous station wagon or maybe if it make good on its promise of Mercedes-Benz engineering under the wheels. The Pacifica failed on both counts. We now see some more Pacificas running around, but many of them are in rental fleets and others are just the cheap versions. Apparently the LA buying public isn't interested in any version of the Pacifica without heavy discounts. Discounts and cheap financing drive Pacifica sales, not desire.
The 300 has to work for Chrysler. This is the first rear drive model in many years for Chrysler. It's supposed to represent the best of what was promised in 1998 when Daimler Benz bought Chrysler. The 300 is also the heart of the DaimlerChrylser strategy to take the Chrysler brand up market. Chrysler even had to train its lames dealers and sales force in the proper way to sell you, the dumb customer, on the virtues of rear drive. Maybe DC was worried that the car wouldn't be able to sell itself on its merits?
I tried to drive the 300C version of this car a couple weeks ago after the US launch. I went to the only Chrysler dealer in the area, La Brea Chrysler/Jeep. There was one 300 sitting on their lot. It was the 300 "A" according to the salesman. Apparently they designate the 3 versions of the new 300 with "ABC". The 300A is the cheapest version with the 2.7L V6 that, according to Dan Neil, is barely enough to power the car. The 300B is the internal designation given to the mid-level model with the aged Chrysler 3.5L V6 and a few more amenities. The 300C is the public designation given to the crown jewel (the official designation for the "A" is the Touring and the "B" is the Limited), the successor to the famous 300 letter-series cars introduced in the 1950s with a huge Hemi V8 engine. This car is powered by an antique, but powerful V8. It is also the model with all the goodies and option packages. Apparently, it also is the only one anyone is interested in.
My Chrysler salesman opened the side door so I could walk in. He didn't introduce himself. I told him that I would like to see and drive the 300C. I had checked the internet and their inventory (updated that morning) had shown two black models in stock. He said that those had been sold the first day and that maybe they'd get some in next week. I could check back then. He did seem interested in pushing a Crossfire on me, but I declined that invitation. Apparently those aren't nearly as popular as they were when they were introduced a year ago and now that Chrysler announced the convertible version coming soon, the coupe has been orphaned on the dealer lots. The great salesman didn't have anyone else in the showroom and couldn't have even bothered taking my name or giving me a business card. He didn't even offer a test drive in the lonely 300A sitting outside. So much for all that dealer training Chrysler invested in.
From the remarks made by the Pulitzer Prize winning Dan Neil, the 300A is already destined for the rental fleets. This doesn't bode well for the bread and butter 300B. People are going to see the 300A in the rental fleets and expect discounts on the 300B. Chrysler will give it to them. And what about those people interested in the exclusivity of the 300C? They may find the panache lacking in that department since the 300C looks just like the other models to the untrained eye. So far, Chrysler marketing has the letter "F" for its choice to give the lack-luster 300A to the rental fleet before the public can be sold on the aura of the 300C. There are bill boards all over Los Angeles touting the new 300C. It may take more than marketing savvy to sell this car. It may take rebates and low financing to sell even the new 300C -- but hey, what else is new in Detroit these days?
