Meet Christine: Chief Engineer of 2008 Grand Caravan Goes Plum Crazy on Weekends
Oct 5, 2007 at 1:05PMBy Christine L. Alaniz
Chief Engineer, Dodge Grand Caravan
If you imagined the chief engineer of the Dodge minivan program, there’s probably a couple things you wouldn’t have guessed. First, I was born right in the heart of Dearborn, Mich., which is actually the home of Ford. So I grew up without very many Dodge and Chrysler fans around. But I was one…a secret MOPAR fan in the late 60s and 70s. I had a passion for cool cars.
I graduated one of only two women in my Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Michigan - Dearborn. And when it came down to a job, I interviewed just down the street from my school at the Blue Oval and at Chrysler. And 28 years later, I’m glad I chose the Chrysler job still.
Starting in 1994, I began working in the minivan program. In 2005, I was assigned chief engineer during the development stage of the vehicle. To be honest, the job was overwhelming at first. This new Grand Caravan was slated to put Dodge atop the minivan market, accommodating the lifestyle of the modern minivan customer.
I spent a lot of my early days on the job, just asking questions. Making sure the team had made the right decisions for this important new product. Based on the answers we got, the new minivan took on its new identity. And, based on the results, I’d say we did pretty well.
This vehicle was designed by computer from stem to stern. It was a state-of-the-art process, with parts design and material selection being done before any tools were even made. Our team of engineers really deserve a heck of a lot of credit for this accomplishment.
Grand Caravan isn’t your average minivan. We worked hard to keep that Dodge spirit flowing through. It’s about energy, attitude and ingenuity with this crowd. And I’ll hold that up against pretty much anyone.
Which leads me to the second part you might not expect of a minivan engineer. While I spend my days working on family-friendly minivans, I’ll put my garage up against pretty much any muscle car fan. My husband and I own four cherry MOPARs…a 1970 Orange HEMI Charger R/T (yes, it’s a real one), a 1972 Challenger 340 - 4 speed (ok, not exactly stock), a 1979 Li’l Red Express restored by my husband and son while I earned an MBA, and our current project is a 1970 Plum Crazy Challenger convertible (this might take a while…)
So that’s me. And you can bet a part of this passion for automobiles, a passion for making cars that are at once economical, safe and fun had a lot to do with how well our brand new 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan turned out.
Next time, we’ll discuss some of the features of the new minivan (like the now famous Swivel ‘n Go seats, for instance) and how we continue to keep innovating here at the company that invented this class of vehicle. It’s a great place to be.
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2 Comments
We are anxiously awaiting our third Caravan. Our first was an early 1984 LE which due to it\’s uniqueness raised a lot of questions from other drivers. We traded it at 240,000 miles.Our next was a 1997 ES, which will go at 140,000 miles. We are both in our late 50\’s and now we need the Caravan to permit the use of a power wheelchair lift, that stores the chair in the rearmost bay accessing via the tailgate. Our new Caravan when delivered, will be an 08 SXT with the M package, leather, tow group, and the upgraded sound system. I greatly appreciate the fact that I can get this degree of luxury without being forced to purchase the rear seat DVD\’s. In our case, no one will ever watch them, and keeping the rig for 10 years, the lack of the DVDs won\’t affect resale. I like that the safety features are all standard, and really like the idea of the rear camera and backup sensors. My only complaint is that the NAV package is grossly overpriced as a $1300 option. Garmin & Magellan both offer far superior units with more features for half the price at the internet stores.
My wife and I are senior citizens and contemplated buying either a Grand Caravan or Town & Country. We intended to use it as a mini-motor home to visit out of town friends and relatives. One of the most innovative features and a great selling point was the availability of Sirius Satellite TV. You missed the boat, however, by including three channels intended only for kids. We would like to watch the Fox News Channel, the History Channel, and perhaps one of the major broadcast networks. My question is, do you intend to include more channels in the future, and, if so, would the current system be upgradable to receive them?