Chrysler scraps its plan to build a Dodge network

Shanghai, April 10 (Gasgoo.com) After many setbacks in the market, Chrysler has to give up its "independent brand" strategy of building a Dodge network in China. The company will rebuild a network for its three brands to boost their sales, a Beijing newspaper reported today.

Starting in mid-April, Chrysler / Jeep dealers will be allowed to sell Dodge vehicles, and Dodge 4S shops will sell Chrysler and Jeep products in Beijing. This means the two sales networks of Chrysler will be merged.

Chrysler's bestselling vehicles, the Dodge Ram pickup and the minivans, are both hurting as buying trends change toward smaller vehicles. Chrysler's quality reputation is weak. The carmaker got only two vehicles, the Chrysler 300 and the Dodge Charger, onto Consumer Reports' list of 104 recommended models for 2008, no more than little Kia of Korea.

Chrysler's plan to merge and rebuild its dealer network, creating stores that sell all three of its brands, Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep, is an effort to reverse the lower sales of its products.

In 2007, the Chrysler 300C, the best-seller of the company, sold only 7,700 units in China and the sales of its other products, including five or six imported models, were more disturbingly limited.