The first all-new, customer-level 2001 Chrysler Voyager and 2001 Dodge Grand Caravan minivans rolled off the final assembly line today at DaimlerChrysler Corporation’s St. Louis South Assembly Plant — U.S. home of the minivan.

DaimlerChrysler Corporation (DCC) has invested over $280 million in new tooling and equipment in the St. Louis South facility in order to assemble the completely re-designed 2001 short and long-wheel base minivans. The company was able to completely replace tooling necessary to produce the new model and reach top, customer-level quality in only seven weeks — a benchmark for the facility. After a short holiday during changeover, employees have been back at the plant for the last few weeks building pre-production prototype vehicles to test the new equipment, learn new processes and verify top quality before production for customers began today.

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Employees and officials at the plant recognized the first two official customer vehicles in a “job one” ceremony held today. The Shockency family, which has three generations of family members working at the plant, drove the first fourth-generation minivans off the production line in the plant’s final assembly area.

“When you think of minivans, you think of families, and that is especially true for the families of people who build them,” said Gary Henson, DaimlerChrysler Executive Vice President – Manufacturing. “Today is an important milestone for our entire minivan family, including the employees and families in St. Louis, the minivan platform engineering team, our family of component and powertrain plants, and our suppliers. The quality of our all-new 2001 minivans is second to none thanks to all the hard work of the extended minivan family.”

The company’s ability to work hand-in-hand with its unique Extended Enterprise(R) enabled the manufacturing and the minivan platform teams to achieve world class quality in prototype minivans before beginning production. At full production, the St. Louis South facility will be able to produce 260,000 vehicles annually with 4,500 people on two eight-hour shifts.

Frank Ewasyshyn, DCC Senior Vice President of Advance Manufacturing Engineering and General Manager of Minivan Operations joined Frank Ruzicka, Mayor of Fenton; Dick Entenmann, DCC Vice President of Small/Large Car and Minivan Manufacturing; Les Wolf, St. Louis South Plant Manager; Pete Cutway, UAW International; Larry Robertson, president of UAW Local 110; Carolyn Conway, president of the UAW Local 597; and hundreds of employees and family members at the ceremony.

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“With the flexibility to produce both short and long-wheel base minivans, St. Louis South will be able to adjust volumes to quickly react to the demands of our customers,” said Ewasyshyn. “The investment in the facility and upgraded equipment, combined with the hard work and dedication of our workforce, will ensure a bright future for the men and women of St. Louis South.”

“With Chrysler and Dodge, we’ve been building the world’s best-selling minivans for the past 17 years,” said James P. Holden, President and Chief Executive Officer of DCC. “In addition to having the right formula from the beginning, our success may be attributed to offering the greatest selection of attractive, feature-filled minivans in the marketplace. For 2001, we’re taking another giant leap in the segment we created by offering sleeker styling, enhanced powertrains, thoughtful features and, of course, even more industry and minivan firsts.”

Some of the new features include: industry-first power up and power down liftgate; industry-first removable, power center console; power dual sliding doors with minivan-first manual override powered by an industry-first inside- the-door motor; industry-first power sliding door obstacle detection system when opening and closing; minivan-first engines with over 210 horsepower, including the new 230-horsepower 3.5-litre engine — the most powerful in its class; minivan-first pop-up rear cargo organizer; minivan-first three-zone automatic temperature control system; minivan-first split rear 50/50 Easy- Out(R) Roller Seats; adjustable pedals; and Minivan-first wireless headphones.

The company launched the all-new 2001 Chrysler Town and Country and 2001 Dodge Caravan in July at its Windsor (Ontario) Assembly Plant, and following St. Louis South, it will launch European versions in January 2001, at its Eurostar Assembly Plant in Graz, Austria.

DCC’s St. Louis North Assembly plant, which is adjacent to the St. South Plant, employs about 3,000 people, and produces 2001 Dodge Ram Quad Cab pickup trucks.