---

2000 Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager Named 'Consumers Digest' 'Best Buys'

12 November 1999

2000 Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager Named 'Consumers Digest' 'Best Buys'

    AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Nov. 11 -- For the twelfth year in a
row, "Consumers Digest" magazine named Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Voyager as
"Best Buys" in its annual December buyer's guide issue.
    "DaimlerChrysler set the pace for the modern minivan in 1984 when it
introduced Caravan and Voyager," writes Consumers Digest Managing Editor Jim
Gorzelany.  "Since then, it has worked to stay a step ahead of the
competition.  As the market leader for all of those years, no other brands
have yet to offer the variety and range that you can find at Dodge, Chrysler
and Plymouth.  They are also the most stylish on the market, the only ones
that really demonstrate that a minivan doesn't have to be a boring box on
wheels."
    "Consumers Digest" defines a "Best Buy" as a vehicle that offers the best
combination of performance, comfort, styling, and projected reliability
relative to sticker price.  Judging criteria include independent testing,
research studies, reader surveys, previous published evaluations, quality of
retail dealers and service departments, and personal evaluations by authors
and researchers.
    "We're absolutely delighted that Consumers Digest has again named Dodge
Caravan and Chrysler Voyager as 'Best Buys'," said A.C. "Bud" Liebler,
DaimlerChrysler's Senior Vice President of Marketing.  "It's a special honor
to receive awards continuously in a market segment that we created over 16
years ago.  And it's a special vote of confidence from consumers that, despite
all of the new competition entering the market, we continue to dominate this
critical part of the overall vehicle market."
    Since creating the minivan on November 2, 1983, DaimlerChrysler
has sold nearly eight million minivans worldwide, introduced 38
minivan firsts and earned more than 130 awards for its impressive lineup of
Dodge and Chrysler minivans.  The company sells more than 600,000 minivans
every year in more than 70 countries throughout the world and has a 40 percent
market share of the North American minivan market.
    Industry-wide, minivan sales account for approximately eight percent of
all new vehicles sold in North America.  Dodge Caravan, Chrysler Voyager and
Chrysler Town & Country are manufactured in St. Louis, Missouri; Windsor,
Ontario; and Graz, Austria.