-- Chrysler executives believe Cadillac and Lincoln buyers are available for the taking. Ditto for some buyers of the BMW 5 series.
And the car to woo them? A premium sedan such as the luxurious Chrysler Imperial concept. The Imperial would be positioned above the 300C, an upscale trim level of the 300 with a Hemi V-8.
Although the Imperial is a concept, the Chrysler group's Joe Eberhardt believes the automaker has enhanced the Chrysler brand to the point that it can credibly add a higher-priced sedan such as the Imperial.
Eberhardt says it could be priced several notches above the 300C, whose sticker price starts at $34,400, including shipping.
"I do think a brand needs to evolve, needs to be developed," says Eberhardt, Chrysler's executive vice president of global sales and marketing.
"It does take time. With each successive product success, you get the permission to notch it up a little more."
Eberhardt is mum on potential pricing for a premium sedan but says the brand is not ready for a car that starts at $50,000.
The automaker sold 144,068 Chrysler 300 sedans last year, about a third of which were 300C models. First-quarter sales of the 300 this year totaled 39,332 units, up 8.5 percent from the first quarter of 2005.
Sales were helped by modest customer or dealer incentives of up to $1,000 during 2005 and 2006. But Eberhardt points to the 300's average transaction price as a measure of the car's and the brand's real success.
The average transaction price of all Chrysler 300 models, after rebates, in the first quarter of 2006 was $30,927, according to Power Information Network.
The success of the car "shows there is not necessarily a price ceiling" for the 300 or the Chrysler brand, says Eberhardt, interviewed at the New York auto show.
"We are selling it from $23,000 up to $43,000, $44,000 (and beyond), which shows you we can very successfully spread a vehicle like the 300 across $20,000 or so."
Jack Trout, president of Trout & Partners, a marketing strategy firm in Old Greenwich, Conn., says the 300's success gives the automaker the opportunity to move the Chrysler brand upmarket.
"They have generated some excitement for the Chrysler line with the styling and the Hemi, so I think they have enough there to nudge it up," Trout says. But "I would be very nervous about getting too far into prestige land."
How much space could be placed between the base 300C and, say, the Imperial?
"I would say $5,000," says Jeff Schuster, executive director of global forecasting at J.D. Power and Associates. He adds, "$7,000 would be kind of capping it."
Such a sedan, Schuster says, would need to be "a unique Chrysler product and not get into Mercedes-Benz territory."
Jim Sanfilippo, executive vice president of the consulting firm AMCI in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., says the automaker's plans to add a stretched 300 model this fall show that Chrysler already is moving the brand a bit up market.
"Basically, they have confirmed their idea of going premium," Sanfilippo says.
Chrysler's Eberhardt says baby boomers would be the target for the Imperial.
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