Stellantis Media Site Quality Designed into All-New 2005 Chrysler 300                                                Contact:                                                             General                         Communications                                                                                                Beth Ann                         Bayus                                                                                                                                                                                   Quality Designed into All-New 2005 Chrysler 300                                                                                                                                                           February 29, 2004,                                                                                                                      Auburn Hills, Mich.                                                       -                                                 First Large Volume Vehicle Completely Designed under Chrysler Development System (CDS)   Exciting performance. Alluring design. A quiet, comfortable ride. Reliability. Innovative engineering. Affordability. These are the elements of a quality vehicle, and they are exemplified in the new Chrysler 300 sedan. The full range of design and engineering capabilities of DaimlerChrysler were applied to the development of the new rear-wheel-drive sedan with the eye-catching, elegant design. The result is in a vehicle that continues the dramatic improvements in quality produced by the Chrysler Group over the past decade. The Chrysler 300 is the first large volume vehicle completely designed and engineered under the Chrysler Development System (CDS), the comprehensive, coordinated product creation process that improves quality and speed to market while reducing costs and encouraging innovation in new products. CDS emphasizes systems engineering and up-front planning and design to avoid time-consuming and costly changes during the later phases of the product development cycle. With CDS, all product and process planning is completed and fully integrated before production tooling is begun. "Our quality efforts begin with CDS. That is where we build quality in to each new product that we bring to market,“ said Stephen Walukas, Vice President Corporate Quality, DaimlerChrysler. Implementation of the CDS process has contributed to steady improvement in quality in Chrysler Group products over the past decade. Warranty costs have dropped 50 percent since 1996, including a 30 percent decline in costs in just the past three years. Continuous improvements in quality have also been reflected in independent assessments: Chrysler Group has posted 13 consecutive years of continuous improvement in the J.D. Power & Associates Initial Quality Survey of new car customers. "Our goal is to bring our quality to the level of the best in class manufacturers by 2007,“ said Walukas. These improvements in quality are demonstrated in the 7-Year/70,000 Mile Powertrain Warranty on the Chrysler 300 and other Chrysler Group products. Development of the Chrysler 300 involved the work of 700 engineers and the world-class testing facilities at the Chrysler Technology Center (CTC) in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Engineers logged nearly 6 million miles of customer equivalent driving and experience on the vehicle, including trailer-towing tests in the Rocky Mountains, air conditioning validation in the summer heat of the Florida Keys, punishing drives through Death Valley at more than 120 degrees F. and a -43 degrees F. stint in Manitoba, Canada. "We logged miles through every extreme condition on the globe to make sure we could deliver on our promise of the highest quality," said Burke Brown, Chief Engineer for the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum. The Chrysler 300 was one of the first vehicles to benefit from the new $36 million Aero-Acoustic Wind Tunnel at CTC, completed in summer 2002. With this latest addition to the world-class scientific and testing laboratories at CTC, engineers could test full-size clay models in half a day, enabling them to analyze many different designs.  The wind tunnel enables engineers to test not only the aerodynamics of the vehicle design, but also the internal and external wind noise. As a result of testing, several design and engineering changes were implemented to reduce wind noise, vehicle noise, vibration and harshness and improve weather protection. The result is luxury performance at an affordable price.