page_title: Chrysler Pacifica (minivan)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chrysler Pacifica (minivan) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Waymo Pacifica driverless
context_page_description: The Chrysler Pacifica is a minivan being produced by the Chrysler division of FCA US LLC. Despite sharing its name with a discontinued crossover, it is an all-new design replacing the Chrysler Town & Country.
  The minivan is produced with two powertrains, a 3.6-liter gasoline powered engine and a plug-in hybrid, marketed as Pacifica Hybrid. The plug-in hybrid version has a 16-kWh lithium-ion battery that can propel the car up to 33 mi on electric power alone. The gasoline-only version of the Pacifica minivan went on sale in mid-2016, while the plug-in hybrid version became available in early 2017.
context_section_description: In June 2013, it was reported that Chrysler was preparing to produce a new generation of its Town & Country minivan at the Windsor Assembly Plant, with production set to begin in 2015 and a release for the 2017 model year. An industry analyst reported that the new version would possibly be a crossover utility vehicle in the vein of the Pacifica.
  In 2015, FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne announced that it would invest $2 billion in developing a new minivan, and overhauling the Windsor Assembly Plant to facilitate its production. A company roadmap revealed that a new Town & Country would begin production in February 2016 for the 2017 model year, and that the final-generation Dodge Grand Caravan would be maintained in parallel with the new Town & Country as a lower-cost option during the 2017 model year, after which it will be discontinued. Marchionne has been against "duplicate[d] investments" in product development—a strategy reflected by his reduction of badge-engineering between FCA US's domestic marques. On November 3, 2015, FCA filed to have its trademark registration on the Pacifica brand renewed; FCA's Head of Passenger Car Brands Timothy Kuniskis denied that this was related to any new products, and that it was standard industry practice to continue renewing its trademarks because "you don't want to lose names. Establishing new names is expensive."
  The new vehicle debuted on January 11, 2016, at the 2016 North American International Auto Show. Rather than being named as the Town & Country, the new vehicle was branded as the Pacifica. The decision to drop the Town & Country brand was made primarily to distinguish the new vehicle from previous iterations; Director of Chrysler brand product marketing Bruce Velisek explained that the Pacifica was meant to "change the entire paradigm of what people know about minivans in the segment". Among its differences from the previous Town & Country is a new platform, and a design carrying a sportier appearance inspired by crossovers—a market segment that had cannibalized minivan sales—in an effort to disassociate the vehicle from other minivans with a boxier build. Chrysler is also changing the minivan's sliding doors: they will be aluminum and hands-free, opening automatically when the fob holder waves under them.
  The starting price of the 2017 Pacifica was US$28,595. This was US$1,400 less than the starting price of the 2016 Town & Country. The base model plug-in hybrid, called "Premium", started at US$41,995 and the high-end "Platinum" model started at US$44,995. Because the Pacifica Hybrid has a 16 kWh battery pack, it qualifies in the US for the full US$7,500 federal tax credit and also to other incentives at the state and local level. In June 2017, Chrysler recalled 1,600 Pacificas to fix the electronics.
  The production of a plug-in hybrid version, which will be the first of its class in the United States, was, according to chief engineer Kevin Mets, meant to create an electric vehicle that could feasibly be a family's "primary vehicle".
  On November 7, 2017, Waymo announced that it had begun testing driverless cars without a safety driver at the driver position using the Pacifica plug-in.
caption: Waymo Pacifica driverless minivan
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