Chrysler Group will build its new Chrysler Sebring sedan at its Beijing plant for the Chinese market and will sell Taiwan-built cargo vans in Mexico as part of a strategy to boost its global presence and double international sales in the next five years.
This year alone, the Auburn Hills automaker will have doubled its Dodge, Jeep and Chrysler offerings overseas, tripled its line of right-hand drive vehicles, and quadrupled offers of diesel engines, CEO Tom LaSorda reported Thursday on a conference call with the media.
"This is a huge, huge change in how we're going to attack the international market," LaSorda said.
Sales in non-U.S. markets increased 6.6 percent in 2006 on strong sales of new launches such as the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass.
Thomas Hausch, executive director of international sales and marketing, said sales outside the U.S. grew a total 15 percent in 2006 to nearly 207,000 units, the second highest since 1999.
The U.S. arm of the German-American automaker said it sold 555,924 vehicles outside of the U.S. last year. Sales in Mexico grew by 3.3 percent and sales of DaimlerChrysler Canada rose 1.7 percent on five consecutive months of sales growth.
Sales in the United States dropped 7 percent during 2006 to roughly 2.14 million units.
Last month, Chrysler and Chinese manufacturer, Chery Automobile Co., signed a letter of intent to build small Dodge cars for the global market. The small vehicles, expected to arrive in the U.S. in 2008, will be sold in other NAFTA countries and Europe.
Small cars or B-segment cars already being sold in the U.S. include the Toyota Yaris and Honda Fit produced in Japan, and General Motors Corp.'s imports the Korean-build Chevrolet Aveo.
LaSorda said he was confident that Chery could assemble quality vehicles. "The processing equipment and technology rolling through there is very modern," he said.
The automaker will look for partnership opportunities with suppliers and manufactures in the future, LaSorda said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Josee Valcourt at (313) 222-2300 or
jmvalcourt@detnews.com.
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