Chrysler Group will concentrate on improving its overall product quality and reducing its warranty costs in Europe before expanding its seven-year/ 70,000-mile (110,000 kilometre) US warranty program to European markets, WardsAuto.com reported.
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The car maker may even postpone exporting its standard US extended warranty until a new generation of vehicles are developed for the European market, Jim Schroer, executive vice president of Chrysler Group global sales and marketing, told Ward’s in an interview.
“We’re working on…our quality costs in Europe right now and we really need to have the same kind of progress on our actual quality and our warranty (costs) that we’ve demonstrated in the last three to five years here in the US,” Schroer told WardsAuto.com.
According to Ward’s, Schroer admitted it may take several years before Chrysler’s European products meet quality and warranty cost marks similar to those in the US, where the car maker said it has reduced warranty costs by 50% over the last three to five years.
“Our warranty costs are down 50% in the US and we need that kind of progress in our international business to get (the seven-year/70,000-mile) kind of warranty,” Schroer told WardsAuto.com.
Chrysler imports some products such as the Neon, PT Cruiser (after a short-lived Austrian production venture) and Jeep Liberty into Europe from US plants while the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Voyager minivan are locally assembled in an Austrian plant recently sold to Magna Steyr.
