KEY POINTS:
"We're not naive. We realise the market has changed. But people don't stop towing their boats - there's still a need for large vehicles."
David Smith, the man who controls the fortunes of the Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler brands in New Zealand, remains upbeat in the face of rising fuel prices denting sales of large petrol cars and sports utilities,
In recent weeks, market changes could well have been the least of the challenges for Smith, general manager of Chrysler NZ.
The affable Brit has been sorting dealership losses or changes in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington - events he says are due to factors beyond tough times on the forecourt.
Reports about Chrysler, the US automotive industry's weakest player, heading for bankruptcy or having to sell off the Jeep and Dodge brands as early as next year has also created confusion, though he rejects it's really that bad.
"Yes, we've had some issues, but outside of America Chrysler is going incredibly strong," he says, with 18 per cent growth in Australia and New Zealand over the past year.
Is change in the air? Smith says there's growing interest from New Zealanders in every diesel Jeep, Dodge and Chrysler, and that should grow with a CRD Jeep Cherokee flagship - launched in bush near Rotorua this week - followed in October by a Chrysler Grand Voyager with the same 2.8-litre engine for $79,990, or $5000 more than the just-launched V6 petrol.
Smith predicts each will achieve strong sales, though he also points out petrol versions of these cars and the Grand Cherokee also continue to sell well.
He can also count on eight to 10 highest-performance Street Racing Technology (SRT) gas-guzzlers finding a home nationally every month.
"We have encountered some disappointments with specific vehicles, overall the picture across the three brands is quite rosy," he said.
"We don't have as many small cars as we'd like, and that's why we're certainly trying to make the public more aware of the diesel models we have. In regard to fuel use, I think our vehicles are comparable to a lot of competing models, especially with the diesel lineup."
Though Chrysler is dabbling with hybrid and lean-burn engines, it's not technology soon to come to New Zealand, so any clean-green impetus is wholly with the diesels.
Given this, and Smith's desire to improve range-wide C02 outputs, how come only the $56,990 flagship Limited edition of new KK-series Jeep Cherokee is diesel?
Otherwise it's a $51,990 Limited and $46,990 Sport with a barely altered version of the old car's 3.7-litre V6.
"We do see the move toward diesel to be quite strong, and we forecast at least half of all KKs sold this year will be diesel, but the industry data suggests the overall shift is not as advanced as we first predicted. Petrol has a place, still."
