Chrysler Voyager

Voyager: You're fired!

Chrysler's long-running Voyager MPV is facing the axe

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Sir Alan Sugar used Chryslers in TV show The Apprentice – but now it’s the Voyager which is in line for the axe

By Hugh Hunston

28th June 2007

The US giant plans to introduce a new smaller MPV for next year to take on Ford's S-Max and Citroen's C4 Grand Picasso. It means the Voyager - whose larger Grand versions were used in the hit TV show 'The Apprentice' - is in line for the infamous Sir Alan Sugar "You're fired" treatment.

A seven-seater crossover concept car, the Crew, will break cover at September's Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany. And when it reaches forecourts in production form next year, it will fit in below the new, more upmarket Grand Voyager.

Although company insiders insist that the Crew was signed off as a production project three years ago, the decision by Chrysler bosses to go ahead has been endorsed by the S-Max's runaway success.

A Chrysler source said: "After elevating the Grand Voyager even further, the conclusion is that something must happen below it. The S-Max and C4 Grand Picasso are obvious targets. Whatever we produce will be more sporty, more dynamic to drive and not just the son of the Grand Voyager."

With the Grand now bigger and considered more 'upscale' by the firm, Chrysler product planners see little point in continuing to have a smaller version. But the US brand is keen to boost UK and European sales with a wider model line-up.

The firm is planning to introduce six new cars this year and five next, with a range of models from small family cars to MPVs and SUVs.Chrysler management admit privately that the S-Max has struck a chord with the public by attracting drivers turned off by the staid "mum and kids" image of conventional MPVs.

Pioneering the MPV market in the USA in 1984, the Voyager has racked up nearly 12 million sales worldwide, and has been a key player in the UK market since its 1997 British launch.