DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, concerned about sluggish sales in some fast-growing markets, is launching a drive to combine

Dodge and Chrysler-Jeep dealerships into new consolidated stores, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The company is rolling out the effort, dubbed Project Alpha, to dealers in meetings across the country this month. The push reverses a long-standing policy at the company that barred its Dodge-brand cars and trucks from being

sold under the same roof as its Chrysler- and Jeep-brand vehicles.

The company has concluded that policy must change because in some high-growth cities dealerships aren't selling enough vehicles to generate enough profit amid increasing competition from Japanese and Korean brands. Vehicle sales "at our new-vehicle dealerships is not as high as we want it to be," said

Steven Landry, the Chrysler Group's vice president for dealer operations.

In some of those fast-growing areas, dealer locations chosen many years ago no longer are considered prime. Yet the costs of buying new land and building new stores at more-desirable sites have risen so high that it makes more

sense to build a single consolidated dealership rather than two separate ones, according to company officials.

Company officials said they had not set a deadline for the consolidations or an exact number of Dodge dealerships that they wanted to merge with a Chrysler-Jeep store.

They also said the company would not bankroll the consolidations; dealers who volunteered for Project Alpha would have to foot the bill themselves, according to published reports.