The most surprising decision is to axe Dodge’s Grand Caravan, the best-selling model in the brand's extensive portfolio, ostensibly as CEO Sergio Marchionne doesn’t want two similar products in the showrooms – leaving the way clear for Chrysler’s Town & Country to be the group’s sole minivan offering from the next generation onwards.

“We cannot have the same type of vehicle in the showroom because the consumer is not stupid,” Marchionne said. “We’re not going to create the confusion and conflict in the showroom.” However, this decision ignores a long-running and so-far-successful strategy of having minivans available under both Chrysler and Dodge nameplates, and especially so given recent efforts to differentiate the two. So far this year, the Grand Caravan has garnered 85,830 sales compared to the Town & Country’s 71,917 – the result of an upward repositioning of the Chrysler, such that, whereas previously, its pricing was in-line with that of the Dodge, it now begins where the Grand Caravan’s tails off.

Dumping the Grand Caravan when the next-generation model comes out in 2014 is a surprising decision. In PR terms, the announcement of the Grand Caravan’s exit has been quite an own goal, as the automotive media has led with the ‘death’ of this well-regarded and well-known model, whereas the projected strategy to replace it has been somewhat overlooked. Moreover, the announcement came out of the blue for many industry observers, who expressed caution about the risks of the strategy. This is not least given the success of both nameplates in the current market and the risks of messing with a successful formula. The notion of not having similar products in the same showroom is particularly odd, given the success in the European context of the Lancia Musa – a simple regrilling of the Fiat Idea mini-MPV.

Meanwhile, back Stateside, plans for a Dodge or Chrysler subcompact have also been dropped. Previous presentations had indicated this car was set to be sourced from Fiat – likely a Dodge-branded version of the next-generation Punto, due in 2013, perhaps assembled in Mexico. However, the likelihood of such a plan going ahead was always questionable, and Marchionne has now confirmed their cancellation. “Our assessment has been that subcompacts would have limited purview,” he told Automotive News. Chrysler has never found the case for bringing this subcompact to the U.S. compelling, although its cancellation leaves the carmaker without a subcompact offering across its brand portfolios, apart from the strictly niche – and thus far relatively unsuccessful – Fiat 500. Marchionne suggested that Chrysler would have to be “very, very careful” about achieving competitive pricing before it introduced a subcompact.

Curiously, while the U.S. is not an option any longer, Marchionne suggested that a subcompact could still appear in other NAFTA markets: “I can introduce them in Canada and Mexico [sourced from] other places in the world, but I would never centre the U.S. as being the single largest driver of volumes,” he told AN. “It won’t happen.”

The second Dodge model to be axed is the Avenger, another curious choice, especially as its architectural twin, Chrysler’s 200, will be replaced with model based on a lengthened version of Fiat’s new CUSW platform (‘D-Evo’) in 2013 (the styling of which is understood to be taking place in Turin within Lancia Centro Stile). The decision to can a specific Dodge D-segment sedan means that of the three volume models originally set to use Fiat platforms according to Dodge’s 2009 product plan, only one is left.

Instead, a new crossover is now being proposed for Dodge, which the company hopes will appeal to both Grand Caravan and Avenger owners – despite the significant difference in size between the two models. This new crossover will be based on the platform of the new Chrysler Town & Country minivan due in 2014 – itself likely to be a refreshed version of the existing minivan platform. “A crossover is more in line for Dodge to cover that segment than it is for anybody else to cover that segment,” Marchionne told AN. In reality, two different vehicles, sized and aimed towards different buyer groups, cannot be covered by a one-size-fits-all offering, and so the real story behind this proposal remains to be teased out. One year later a new – theoretically smaller – crossover will slot into the Dodge range below the proposed Avenger/Grand Caravan replacement, as a replacement for the Journey – itself a family-sized crossover. Given this apparent ‘crossover’ in buyer requirements, it may well turn out the newly-announced crossover will replace both larger models, with the Journey effectively discontinued.

First up, however, will be the as-yet-unnamed Dodge compact sedan, due at the Detroit Auto Show next January. This is based on the CUSW/C-Evo Wide platform evolved from the architecture of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta, and a Chrysler derivative is also expected to be added to the mix. Marchionne told AN that the Chrysler-branded version (which will also go to Europe as a replacement for the slow-selling Lancia Delta) will be a “sort-of hatchback”, leading to speculation that this could be a notchback derivative of the Dodge, perhaps somewhat akin to Alfa Romeo’s well-regarded 146. It could prove to be a rival for the new breed of 'upmarket' compact cars currently being marketed in the US, typified by the likes of the Chevrolet Cruze-based Buick Verano.