Editor's note: The Dodge crossover will be built on the platform of the new Chrysler Town & Country minivan. An earlier version of this story misstated the platform for that Dodge vehicle.
TURIN, Italy -- Chrysler Group will offer just one minivan in the future -- the Chrysler Town & Country -- as part of a plan to end duplication in dealer showrooms and give each of its brands a strong and distinctive lineup.
Under the plan, the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan and Dodge Avenger mid-sized sedan will be replaced by a single crossover in 2013, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told Automotive News.
The Chrysler brand will get a replacement for its 200 mid-sized sedan when the Avenger, its sibling, is replaced. The Chrysler sedan will be built on a Fiat platform and the Dodge crossover on the same platform as the new Town & Country.
"We cannot have the same type of vehicle in the showroom because the consumer is not stupid," Marchionne said. "We're not going to create the confusion and conflict in the showroom."
In an interview here, Marchionne said he has decided against offering Chrysler and Dodge subcompacts, a departure from the company's November 2009 product plan.
That means the Fiat 500 will remain the group's lone subcompact in the United States for the next few years.
Eliminating duplicate vehicles was a guiding idea behind Project Genesis, a plan that evolved in 2008 under Chrysler's previous owner, Cerberus Capital Management.
With Genesis, Chrysler is consolidating four brands -- Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram -- under one roof, eliminating nearly all dealerships with fewer brands.
As of last week, 90 percent of Chrysler's 2,324 U.S. dealerships carried the four brands. Chrysler hopes to get more Genesis deals done this year. The company acknowledged that a few high-performing stores that carry only Dodge and Ram or Chrysler and Jeep are likely to remain open in metropolitan areas.
With the four brands under one roof, the company wants to eliminate duplication of badge-engineered siblings such as the Jeep Liberty and Dodge Nitro, Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger and Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Grand Caravan.
Chrysler hatched the Genesis plan to simplify life for customers -- who face an array of 18 nameplates -- and for dealers, who had to train their staffs to sell and service them.