FCA's Remaining Pentastar Product Pair, the Chrysler 300 and Chrysler Pacifica, See Prices Slashed for 2018

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Only two models remain in Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ U.S. Chrysler lineup, but both models will benefit from dramatic price cuts for the 2018 model year.

The 2017 Chrysler 300 was marketed with a U.S. base price of $33,435. That car, the Chrysler 300 Limited, will be renamed for 2018 as the Touring L, CarsDirect reports, one notch above the 300 Touring. Meanwhile, the Chrysler 300C loses its standard V6 engine and is now sold exclusively with the 5.7-liter V8 and rear-wheel drive.

As for the 2018 Chrysler Pacifica, a new Pacifica L below the Pacifica LX allows the 2018 Pacifica to sit well below the Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna in the minivan price hierarchy.

Priced from $28,090 for 2018, including destination fees, the Chrysler Pacifica’s MSRP will be $1,800 less costly than the former entry-level Chrysler minivan, the 2017 Pacifica LX.

The all-new 2018 Honda Odyssey is priced from $30,930. The Toyota Sienna, refreshed modestly yet again for MY2018, starts at $30,745 in 2017.

The 2018 Chrysler 300, meanwhile, will now enjoy a base price of just $30,090, a $3,345 cut from 2017. CarsDirect says the 2018 300 Touring will still 18-inch alloys and the same standard 3.6-liter Pentastar V6.

In August, with the discontinued 200 nearly cleared out and remaining Town & Countrys just about gone, total Chrysler U.S. volume fell by a third to only 12,652 units, the brand’s lowest-volume month since January 2011. (Chrysler averaged 27,000 monthly sales only two years ago.) Year-to-date, sales of the Chrysler 300 are down 8 percent to 35,436. At that rate of decline, calendar year 300 volume will fall to a six-year low. Though Pacifica volume is up 186 percent, year-over-year, total Chrysler brand minivan sales are down 9 percent.

Both remaining Chrysler vehicles operate in shrinking sectors. Sales of full-size mainstream brand sedans are down 15 percent this year. Minivan volume has fallen 12 percent.

* Correction: an earlier version of this post indicated the 300 Touring would come standard with leather seats. Having updated its information, CarsDirect now tells TTAC, “the 300 Touring will in fact come standard with cloth seats.”

[Images: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.

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  • Jeff S Jeff S on Sep 08, 2017

    Chrysler and Dodge brands will eventually disappear from neglect. Jeep and Ram are the most valuable brands left.

    • Lorenzo Lorenzo on Sep 11, 2017

      No they won't. Sergio Marchionne's last desperate move is to part out the company and hand off the proceeds to the stockholders (Agnelli Family:37%), leaving one empty hulk loaded with debt to file for bankruptcy. He may think he can sell off Dodge, by including a plant or two, and maybe sell off Fiat-Brazil, but the name of the beast is Fiat-Chrysler, and that's the hulk that will be left to file, wiping out bondholders. The Agnelli's are synonymous with Fiat, so that's the worst way to get out of the car biz for them, but it may be the only way.

  • Whatnext Whatnext on Sep 09, 2017

    I test drive a 2016 300C Platinum with the Hemi, it was great. There really is no substitute for the smooth pull of a V8. It's was what a Cadillac Sedan de Ville should be today: big, fast and effortless.

  • Joe This is called a man in the middle attack and has been around for years. You can fall for this in a Starbucks as easily as when you’re charging your car. Nothing new here…
  • AZFelix Hilux technical, preferably with a swivel mount.
  • ToolGuy This is the kind of thing you get when you give people faster internet.
  • ToolGuy North America is already the greatest country on the planet, and I have learned to be careful about what I wish for in terms of making changes. I mean, if Greenland wants to buy JDM vehicles, isn't that for the Danes to decide?
  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
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