Chrysler Aims to Defend Top Share of U.S. Minivan Market : Autos: Company rolls out its first new models for 1996, says it’s putting quality over quantity.

The first of Chrysler Corp.’s all-new 1996 minivans bound for dealer showrooms rolled off the assembly line here this week, but without the usual fanfare and speeches.

Instead, the auto maker talked about its daunting tasks ahead: getting a redesigned plant to build a more complicated, all-new minivan faster and at far higher quality levels than ever before.

Chrysler manufacturing chief Dennis Pawley, repeating the industry mantra, said the company’s top priority is meeting quality goals. Production targets are flexible--he only hopes to have enough vans on dealer lots to start an advertising blitz in late May, he said.

“We will take our time,” Pawley told reporters on a plant tour this week. “If everybody met all their quality targets and it’s possible to speed this thing up, I still won’t do it.”

The St. Louis South plant here is making about 50 Dodge Caravan, Plymouth Voyager and Chrysler Town & Country minivans a day, and it will reach a full two-shift line speed of about 1,150 daily this summer, the company says. Its Windsor, Canada, plant will begin making Caravans and Voyagers in August, using an identical production system.

A top-quality minivan is extremely important for Chrysler as it defends its commanding share of the U.S. minivan market against new competitors, including Ford Motor Co.’s Windstar and Honda Motor Co.’s Odyssey.

Industry analysts also expect Toyota Motor Corp. to begin selling a new U.S.-built minivan in the next few years. And General Motors Corp. will replace its awkward APV minivans with a new vehicle based on a European design next year.

“I don’t think you can overestimate the importance for Chrysler to move to the top of the quality ratings,” said Susan Jacobs, president of Jacobs & Associates, a New Jersey-based automotive consulting firm. “To sustain their momentum long-term, they have to have a better reputation for quality.”

Chrysler has set high standards for the van, starting with a lower defect rate found in the influential J.D. Power & Associates initial quality study.

Each minivan will take about 18 hours of direct labor to assemble, down from about 21 hours at the old plant, which built a less-complex product.