According to marketing director Steve Gray, the Caliber aspires to be “cool” and “edgy”. Its “bold irreverent” styling gives it “commonality with other US brands in the UK”.
Gray said almost nine out of ten Caliber buyers would be men who were “not inclined to buy a domestic car”. Most would be in their late thirties with an income of about £27,000 per annum.
Gray said the Caliber would attract customers from the C, D and SUV sectors and appeal to buyers who had “had enough of having the same as everyone else”.
The Dodge brand is being heavily promoted online through the Discoverdodge website and is backed by a series of aggressive viral advertisements.
In 2005 Dodge sold 1.4 million vehicles worldwide. With a market share of 7 per cent it was the fifth largest nameplate in the US – bigger than Chrysler and Jeep combined. The group said the Caliber, which is produced in Belvidere, Illinois, would lead the brand's charge outside the domestic market.
Gray said Dodge would not cross over with Chrysler and Jeep customers but would push all three brands to a 1.4 per cent share of the European market by 2008. However, cost savings would be made through sharing back office functions.
In a full year Dodge expects to sell up to 7,000 Calibers in the UK – taking less than 1 per cent of the total C-segment but a “significant minority” - made up of customers who may have families but did not want to admit they had “left the good days behind”, Gray said.
By mid-2007 the Caliber will be joined by the Nitro SUV, the SRT4 performance Caliber and an as yet unnamed D-segment car.
The Chrysler group is confident of exceeding 20,000 UK sales in 2006 and building
volumes further in the following two years.
The Caliber, which will finally arrive in dealers' showrooms in July, comes in four trim levels and with a choice of 1.8 and 2.0-litre petrol engines and a 2.0-litre diesel unit. The petrol diesel split is expected to be 50/50 with the more powerful engine taking the lion's share of petrol sales. Prices range from £11,495 to £15,290 – offering significant savings compared to rivals such as the Volkswagen Golf, Peugeot 307 and Mazda 3, the group claimed.
For example it said a fully loaded Caliber 1.8 SXT, at £13,790, came in 19.7 per cent cheaper than a Golf 1.6 SE.
Gray said the SXT, sitting above the S and SE versions but below the SXT Sport, would take 65 per cent of sales.
Chrysler Group UK sales director Lawrence Good said the Dodge brand would be sold alongside Chrysler and Jeep – there were no plans for standalone Dodge sites. “We will put our volume through our existing dealer network,”
he said.
The network currently stands at 88 dealerships with five open points. Good said the main problem was securing representation
in London where costs were prohibitive.
“We're not going to be in the city,” he admitted.
But the group does have sites within the M25 orbital at Romford, Hatfield, Epsom and Woking.
Good said the Chrysler Group, and Dodge in particular, needed to establish a firmer foothold in the fleet sector.
“We are very good at selling to people who want to associate with the brands but we haven't been so good at selling to the corporate market,” he said.
“We want to get to the guy on his second Focus or Golf who is fed up with it.”
He predicted 35 per cent of Caliber sales would go to fleets in the first full year.
“Initially it will be a retail car until it's established,” he said.
Good said that on 1 June
the group was launching a network of 20 dedicated corporate
dealers.
With private sales on the
wane he added: “The corporate market is constant, it's a crucial
backbone.”

At A Glance

The Dodge calibre arrives in UK showrooms in July
l The 2-litre diesel will take 50 per cent of sales, the 2-litre petrol 35 per cent and the 1.8-litre petrol 15 per cent
l Four trim levels are available: S; SE; SXT; SXT Sport
l Prices range from £11,495 for the 1.8S to £15,430 for the 2-litre diesel SXT Sport
l Sales for the Caliber are expected to reach between 5,000 and 7,000 units in its first full year
l The retail/fleet split will be 65 per cent to 35 per cent