Jeep is up there with Ferrari and Tesla as a brand that’s considered among the most valuable in the world, and not just for cars but among all brands, period. (And it’s the most patriotic!) For many years, it kind of set the paradigm as SUVs—whether designed for actual off-roading or just to look the part—came to dominate the new car market. So why are Jeep sales flagging to levels that have the Stellantis CEO weighing in?
That story kicks off today’s morning roundup, and we also have dispatches covering some new Land Cruiser and 4Runner news; General Motors pushes back on aggressive new fuel economy rules; and another electric disappointment from Mazda. Let’s jump in!
When Everyone Is Jeep, No One Is
Thanks to the various supply chain disruptions over the past three years, it’s hard to parse the usual insights from new car sales figures alone. As a result, there’s one trend even I hadn’t noticed until the Wall Street Journal’s Ryan Felton pointed out (smart guy, that Felton): Jeep’s market share has been steadily declining in recent years. This, despite being one of the major Stellantis cash cows, along with Ram’s trucks.
How did this happen amid a booming SUV market? Increased competition, for one; the Ford Bronco can now do a lot of things only the Wrangler and a few of its associated models could do for a long time. That’s just one example. How many SUVs and crossovers do you see marketed as driving across a sweeping desert? I feel like damn near all of them, even if most of those cars—body-on-frame 4×4 or otherwise—will spend most of their real lives at grocery store parking lots.
But that’s only part of the problem. The other is that Jeeps are getting expensive, even in our stupid new era of sky-high car pricing. From the WSJ:
The rugged American brand that spawned the modern SUV has posted lower sales for eight straight quarters. Since mid-2018, Jeep has surrendered significant market share, falling from sixth to ninth in sales among top U.S. brands.
The decline came as Jeep pushed into new vehicle categories, including a pickup-truck version of its popular Wrangler and the Grand Wagoneer, a large, luxury SUV priced above $90,000. But Jeep has faced stiffer competition in its core markets, like compact and midsize SUVs, as automakers target those categories with new offerings.
Amid the sales decline was a bright spot for Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis: The price customers paid for Jeeps has soared, helping the bottom line. Like most major automakers, Jeep gave priority to output of its priciest, most-profitable vehicles over the past three years, as supply-chain disruptions left dealership lots near empty, and consumers spent record sums for new wheels.
[CEO Carlos Tavaeres] said the brand slipped recently with ineffective marketing tactics and didn’t always have the right versions of popular models available at dealerships. The company intends to gain back market share in the coming year, he added.
“It is not rocket science,” Tavares said. “We just have to do it properly.”
Jeep, like a lot of brands, did the “Charge obscene prices for something that won’t have all the options it had before the virus hit and you’re just gonna need to deal with that” thing for a while. And it was summarily quite profitable. But now, new car supplies are getting back to normal. The competition is heating up. I don’t expect a widespread drop in car prices to pre-pandemic levels anytime soon, or ever, but the worst of the pricing extravaganzas seem to be over.
Among that story’s findings: the average new Jeep price is now $55,000, America’s unsold Jeep supply is more than double the industry average, and dealers are having trouble squaring those prices with the fact that Jeeps have historically gone to people with lower credit scores. (I know that sounds mean, but it’s what the story says!)
There’s a bigger lesson to be learned here: the auto industry needs to realize that people were only going to put up with $50,000 average new car prices for so long until they just stop buying cars. So far this year sales are trending up, but I think that could have an expiration date with prices being this high. We can’t all buy like millionaires, unfortunately.
New Toyota Land Cruiser Debuts Tomorrow, New 4Runner On The Way Soon Too
Here’s an example! Toyota has spent much of the past year and this one updating its extremely dependable but ancient truck lineup. This revival was led by the new Tundra, then the new Tacoma, and now the Land Cruiser is next—and back in America after a hiatus. Don’t forget the 4Runner, which we’ll get to in a second, and the reported comeback of the FJ Cruiser. You see why Jeep is having a flop-sweat moment?
Tomorrow night, we’ll get the full slate of details on the new 2024 Land Cruiser. The latest teaser can be found above. We know it’ll be a different model from the international-market Land Cruiser that came out a few years ago, very similar to the Lexus GX that it will be built alongside it and likely sold as the Land Cruiser Prado in other places. Since it’ll be on the same TNGA-F body-on-frame platform as these other trucks as of late, we should be able to expect four-cylinder, hybrid and turbocharged V6 engine options.
As for the 4Runner, the latest forum rumors—and take these with a grain of salt as always, but they seem plausible—sounds like it will effectively be a Tacoma SUV more than ever this time, with four-cylinder power only and tons of off-road gadgets. We could see that later this year or early next as a 2025 model.
As ever, I’m glad to see Toyota going big on hybrid power for these ultra-popular SUVs and trucks. Because…
GM Balks At New Fuel Economy Rules, Biden Administration Says Deal With It
Once again, tough new fuel economy rules are coming and once again, the auto industry is throwing a hissy fit about how hard and expensive it will be before they figure out how to just do it. Under those proposed rules, NPR reports, fleetwide fuel economy averages could be 58 mpg by 2023. And that could also include revising the outdated and frankly nonsensical MPGe ratings for EVs, which I think are fairly useless. (It could also mean that automakers can’t lean fully on EVs to reduce their fleet averages, but that seems TBD.)
Reuters reports GM is pushing back, but the feds say pffft:
General Motors warned the Biden administration’s planned changes to vehicle emissions rules could cost the auto industry hundreds of billions of dollars in penalties by 2031, which the Biden administration said on Thursday was wrong.
[…] At the meeting, GM estimated the auto industry as a whole could face $100 billion to $300 billion in total penalties — or $1,300 to $4,300 per vehicle — from 2027 to 2031 depending on whether an Energy Department proposal to revise the petroleum-equivalent fuel economy rating for electric vehicles (EV) is enacted.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which oversees Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, said late on Thursday GM’s “estimate is pure speculation and inaccurate.” The agency will release its proposal to hike CAFE requirements for 2027 and beyond on Friday, sources familiar with the agency’s plans said, after the White House signed off on Tuesday.
This is why I’d like to see GM turn some of those gas SUVs and trucks it’s going to make forever into hybrids, like Toyota’s doing. But so far the GM strategy, unlike Toyota and Ford, is to “skip a step” and go straight to EVs. I question the wisdom in that, personally—though I’m also here complaining about new car prices being too high, so screw me, right?
It Would Also Be Nice To See Mazda Take Electrification Seriously At All
Remember when we all hinged our hopes for a rotary engine revival on that Mazda MX-30? Well, like every new rotary engine car you’ve hoped for since the RX-8 was put out to pasture, you can throw those dreams straight into the trash. The MX-30, all variants of it, are now dead in California, the only state where it was sold. American buyers just couldn’t get behind its 100-mile EV range (understandable) and the rotary range extender option was deemed not worth it (kind of a shame.) Car and Driver says only 66 were sold this year through June. Yeesh.
The MX-30 will live on in Japan and Europe, where it’s better suited to exist anyway. But if you want a Mazda option that’s not purely internal combustion, your options remain extremely limited here:
Mazda will discontinue MX-30 EV for the U.S. market following the 2023 model year. Our current U.S. electrification efforts are focused on large platform PHEVs, such as the first-ever 2024 CX-90 PHEV and upcoming CX-70 PHEV, as well as introducing CX-50 Hybrid into our lineup to address the specific needs of the U.S. market.
I’d like to point out that only one of the cars on that list is actually on sale right now and it’ll set you back at least $50,000. So while other automakers are in some cases racing full-tilt toward EVs, Mazda says “we’ll get you some hybrids at some point, maybe, just like we did with those diesels.”
I get that Mazda’s a small, independent car company and it’s tough to compete with the big players. But it needs to show buyers—and fans—that it’s serious about what’s coming next with automotive powertrains, lest it faces total irrelevance. Or gets bought out at fire-sale prices by SAIC Motor and those folks sort things out for them.
Your Turn
Congratulations! You have been appointed Head of the Jeep® Brand. Like that scientist guy in Captain America, someone sees something in your courage and patriotism—not to mention your very good car takes. How do you go about reviving Jeep’s fortunes in the U.S. and beyond?
Me in charge of Jeep? Jeep’s value is as a niche brand and it’s been pretty diluted. But a couple of things I’d do right away, an extended cab, but not quad-cab Gladiator. Dump the Cherokee name because it’s long past time, not sure what to use as a replacement, especially for the grand, but yeah. Focus on improving quality. Otherwise try and do what other companies do and drop the low profit low-end models. Jeep isn’t a brand that needs a box on wheels like the Renegade. A few from the factory specials to halo with. And make a factory Jerrari.
“Jeep’s market share has been steadily declining in recent years. “
Well they can fix that problem by simply resetting their MSRPs back to the lower levels they were at before the COVID shortage hit.
The typical Jeep is overpriced by at least 10%
“GM Balks At New Fuel Economy Rules”
If GM is as serious about BEVs as they claim to be, then they should have no problem meeting higher fuel economy standards and should have no problem avoiding the payment of any emissions penalties.
“It could also mean that automakers can’t lean fully on EVs to reduce their fleet averages, “
Actually that’s EXACTLY what they need to do. Selling more BEVs WILL improve their fleet MPG averages.
GM just might want to consider keeping the Bolt and Bolt EUV in production until the Ultium-based Bolt goes into volume production.
“How do you go about reviving Jeep’s fortunes in the U.S. and beyond?”
Start offing cash-back offers to clear out the slow sellers and get cut the price of the Renegade to a more sensible, connected-to-reality level… OR keep the price the same and make a hybrid powertrain standard. And bring back the FWD version to enable a lower base price.
Get the 4XE plug-in hybrid system in more models/trims. Make a cheaper non-plug-in version of that hybrid system. And I would look at killing off Compass as it overlaps with the Renegade at the lower end and the Cherokee at the higher end… especially in terms of price. Jeep does not need 3 vehicles that have an MSRP that starts in the $38K to $40K range
And then reposition the Cherokee in size/price between the Renegade and the Grand Cherokee… so a bit bigger than the current Compass but a bit smaller than the current Cherokee.
Also, start working on electric versions of existing models and focus on getting them on sale in the EU, China and CARB states first.
I’ll say “I love Jeeps”, but I’m really only talking about the Wrangler, and by extension the Gladiator. The new GC’s are nice looking, but far too spendy. Surprisingly, I’m seeing a lot of them around, and not the base models either. The Compass looks good, but why on earth would one buy that when a Kia Sportage is roughly the same price?
Other than the offroad capability of the JL/JT, the other models aren’t really competitive in their class/price point. IMO if it wasn’t for the Wrangler, there would be no reason for Jeep to exist.
I loved my old 97 ZJ, and have always liked XJ’s and WJ’s. IMO Jeep peaked in 2001, when you could still go to the dealer and Choose between a TJ, WJ, and XJ.
Out of curiosity i looked up Mazda’s claimed MPG for the MX-30 rotary range extender.
Once it kicks in it’s drinking 9.7l/100km(25mpg)! Are you kidding with this shit Mazda??
I was always suspicious about their claims it could be economical.Rightly so it seems.What a piece of garbage
I’m in the market for a SUV, make a decent amount of money, and have a 800+ credit score.
I asked my wife if she wanted to look at a Grand Cherokee L since they are piling up on lots and have discounts again. She likes the idea of a PHEV, so maybe a 4xe model Cherokee. She responded with “I don’t want to get stranded somewhere”.
So there you go Jeep/Stellantis. I guess we’ll keep driving past the Toyota dealer’s lot to see if they have any vehicles for sale.
And I wonder how much the Wrangler moving upmarket has affected sales of other Jeeps. The only Jeeps I recall seeing walking around my neighborhood are a few Wranglers driven by 50-year old Dads, so they have leather seats and never are muddy. Those “family haulers” used to be a Grand Cherokee, but now they drop $55k (or more after adding bigger tires and a body lift) on a Rubicon Wrangler to drive kids to soccer practice. I also see more and more Broncos around as their supply loosens up.
As the head of Jeep, I’d do the following:
* realize $50-$80k for a car that’s indistinguishable from dozens of comparables except it’s in the shop more is no way to go through life
* focus on reliability above everything else
* drive a Toyota
* probably get fired
JEEP = Just Empty Every Pocket
Most people I know associate Jeeps with reliability problems and/or low build quality. Even the non-Wrangler models and these associations have come from non-car enthusiasts, too. I’d say if they fix their reliability issue, they might do better. Why would someone want a sketchy Jeep Compass when they can go get a rock solid Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V or even a Mazda CX-5 that’ll pretty much do the same thing for them with less headache(s)?
Put the angry jeep face on everything and they will fly off the lots. Every time I see an angry jeep face I think about how cool it looks and how I wish I could get one without having to buy aftermarket parts. They are really missing out on an opportunity here.
wait wait WAIT WAIT WHAT?
Is there some sort of Compact Cruiser news other than a rehashed C&D article from who knows when? Because that is something I would buy and fast. Kids are leaving the house, and I’ll keep the GX for offroad shenanigans.
SOMEONE GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION
To summarize:
Jeep has put itself in the Harley-Davidson trap.
This is a completely correct comment, and perfect. They sure have.
I would be the friend at the side of Jeep’s deathbed. I would sing its song, and mark it as the death of a warrior.
There would be no more and no more mention of the Compass, the Renegade, the Wagoneer, the Whateverthefuck.
There would only be cars named Jeeps. They would be built to order.
You could order a backwoods motor-sled with no doors and a wooden floor delivered to your off-grid cabin in Nunavut.
You could order a silver mini-bus/limo like the Jeepnies in the Philippines.
You could get a 4 seat convertible that’s also a great truck to enjoy the brief but glorious summer that exists wherever you live.
You could get the thing that saves 4Runners from their hubris in Utah.
And you could get it for cheap, as none will be posh. Posh is for the aftermarket. The interior of these things are supposed to be cleaned with a hose. The price for an engine and chassis is $10,000.
When the money is gone, you salt the Earth. These were The Last Jeeps. Anything new called a Jeep after this last run is officially BULLSHIT.
In a final agony of brand equity, return the Jeep to the sea. When people see a Jeep, let them say, not “Jeep,” not “JEEP,” but “<pause> <breathe> Jeeeeeeeeep.”
Let it die in a blaze of glory. Seed the inspirations of a million budding enthusiasts with ten thousand singular cars, and burn it like a goddamn Viking ship.
Jeep is dead. Long live Jeep.
As the head of Jeep, I slap a Dodge or Chrysler badge on everything below the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee. Grand Cherokee is now just Cherokee, Grand Cherokee L is now just Grand Cherokee. Gladiator is dead, the wheelbase is going to be for a three-row Wrangler called the Wagoneer. The BOF Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer are not Jeeps but Chryslers or Imperials now.
Pragmatism is the marketing line, not machismo. Vehicles are capable, comfortable, reliable and efficient. Every model is hybrid standard except the two-door Wrangler, PHEV optional engine upgrade.
what does this all mean, my guy
Renegade, Compass, KL Cherokee => Dodge products now
Current Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer => Chrysler products now
Grand Cherokee => Cherokee
Grand Cherokee L => Grand Cherokee
Wrangler => Wrangler
Gladiator => Dead, replaced by a three row Wrangler called the Wagoneer or Golden Eagle
Every model is a hybrid and the engine upgrade is PHEV. Only the two door, base model Wrangler comes non-hybrid
Add: Build a Suzuki Samari sized Mini-Wrangler and only sell the stripper model for those that are going straight to the aftermarket anyway. Same engine options as the wrangler though (imagine a 389 in that tiny thing!), market it as a SxS competitor only a little more likely to be street legal.
Why does Europe have Renegade 4XEs and Compass 4XEs but not the US?? Those would sell very well in the US but we can’t even get them. Offer them from the Sport model all the way up to the Trailhawk. A plug in hybrid that is trail rated and at least slightly affordable seems like a no brainer. Secondly a stripper model of Renegade and Compass should be available to serve as a entry into the brand for regular people. They can buy a fancy pants Jeep later but at least you wouldn’t be losing customers left and right to other brands.
Jeep tried coasting on is past reputation and is failing in the face of consistently poor reviews and fewer CUV/SUV intenders knowing or caring what a “Rubicon” is or what “Trail Rated” means these days. Hell, even my old Sonata can do the same type of off-roading most CUV buyers are apt to attempt.
It doesn’t help Stellantis’ cause how it crowded Jeep’s higher end lineup with lookalike 3 row SUVs. The Grand Cherokee L, Wagoneer, and Grand Wagoneer are difficult to tell apart inside and out at a glance, perform similarly, and none test well against the competition. Jeep would do well to ditch one or even two of those models. Meanwhile, its more affordable models: Cherokee, Compass, and Renegade wither away neglected while only slightly less mediocre 3-cyl powerhouses like The Bronco Sport and Trailblazer steal sales. Jeep badly needs to update all three and make sure the replacement Renegade in particular never crosses the $30K MSRP threshold even if it has to be bare bones like the old Suzuki Samurai/Geo Trackers once were or, if electric, barely gets 200 miles of range.
Jeep needs to replace the Renegade and/or Compass with a fresh vehicle that looks more like a Wrangler. Something that provides open-air motoring, at least as an option, while being efficient would be very compelling.
There are two major categories of Jeep owners: those who have driven with the windshield folded down and those who never will. This divergence has led to the crossroads where Stellantis finds itself today.
The second group is, by far, the larger cohort and that’s who Jeeps have been built for over the last four decades. Understandable since the majority of Jeeps are just another car on the road. And when I say Jeep, I’m speaking only of the icon, the (now) Wrangler. There are other useful, attractive Jeep brand vehicles, but those are largely indistinguishable from most other SUVs when it comes to form and function.
The littlest Jeep has had many challengers over the years – Broncos, Scouts, Defenders, etc. – but none have had the staying power in the marketplace of The Jeep (though Jimney’s are getting there everywhere but here).
Following WW II, Jeeps were left scattered all over the world like empty beer cans after a frat party. They gave rise to an international culture, heck, spawned an entire transportation mode in the Philippines, that cemented its place in automotive history.
Back home, thousands upon thousands of GIs queued up for the civilian version of their favorite war pony. Part truck, part tractor, part roadster, The Jeep appealed to the can do optimism that characterized a booming, postwar America. A legend was born. It was distinct, it was rugged, it was built for frontiers, it was famous. It was us and we were it.
As with all things, The Jeep has evolved. The CJ (which was not some stupid alphabet soup designation, but stood for Civilian Jeep) gave way to the Wrangler about the time Jeep stopped making military vehicles. Over time, people complained that it was too primitive, too plain, too small, too dangerous. So it was modernized, it was prettified, it was airbagged and upsized. Now it’s just too expensive.
Today’s Jeep is still marvelously capable off-road and demonstrably better on pavement than it’s progenitor. But the earliest Jeeps were just as capable off-road, so new Jeeps don’t have a leg up there. The creature comfort improvements and road manners upgrades have led to Jeep ubiquity and that leads to boredom. Ho hum, there goes another Jeep. Nobody shouts anymore, ‘look at that fool in the goggles driving with his windshield down on the highway!’
That’s a shame because it signifies a diminishing of passion. One could argue that’s not necessarily a bad thing in terms of safety, but when it comes to brand loyalty, I think it is. No cache, no cash.
Stellantis is not us. Oh, sure, some of it is, but not enough at the top. The Jeep brand is just that: a product line. Top management doesn’t love The Jeep because it’s a Jeep (though the Jeep specific group do), they respect its name recognition. That’s why we have Fiats with chunky bodies and Jeep-like grills called Jeep Renegades.
Stellantis Jeep needs a new excitement vehicle (one of which is nowhere in the thus far revealed upcoming models) to turn heads. A new halo; a new CJ. Keep it small, keep it simple, keep it cheap.
Do that and I’ll bring the goggles.
Now, substitute BMW for Jeep and 3-series for Wrangler.
Jeep has so many issues with their identity now, as many have said they’re fundamentally not the same product that they built their brand on. There’s some great takes in here so I’ve only added my two hottest takes:
Take over the Dodge RAM Brodozer market but for electrics and hybrids. Create electric Jeeps with 2 solid axles that can be turned into a Moab trailer queen. Money and range are not an object as long as they can run 40″ tires; the fast trim should be faster than a Raptor 0-60, and most trims can snap a factory axle while doing “hold my beer” level off-road tricks for internet points. Note: only 1% of these will ever do either, most will get a lift, then drive dads to soccer practice so they can talk smack to their neighbor with the Raptor. The real die hards get to buy these as third owners when everything is broken and bang them up offroad, thus making the new first time owners feel rugged.
Make the Renegade into a Suzuki Samurai / Geo Tracker. It should have a soft and hard top option (but never a permanent roof), and make it drive much worse. Solid axles!! Really cheap ones that you have to replace when you lift it more than an inch or two. You need David to be writing articles with backhanded compliments like “why the new Jeep really is awesome.”
get rid of the renegade and patriot or compass or whatever they call it. Make a next gen XJ priced and powered similarly to a ford maverick. This isn’t tough.
I would start by firing all the design staff and hire some new ones who can draw something that doesn’t look like what an aged wine country woman would drive around her neighborhood to virtue signal her snarky friends. Is that sexist? Probably. I don’t care. Jeeps haven’t got an ounce of machismo left in them. They look like golf carts.
Well they definitely know their customer base.
Barbie likes it.
For many the Jeep brand is associated with wartime and the military. What they need to do is associate themselves with some really controversial influencers and get neck deep the culture wars. /S
Heh. I think Jeep knows their people, the cars are now delivered with a blacked-out No Quarter US Flag decal. Next they will team up with Grunt Style for a special “tactical” Wrangler.
What I’m reading right now is the Jeep needs to go back to its roots!
“In God we rust!!!” Right David?
There’s just not enough rust in the average used Jeep anymore. That would surely bring prices down for the average buyer wouldn’t it?
Rust? Maybe not….. Aluminum corrosion and blistering paint they’re number one!
I’ve owned a couple of Grand Cherokees and loved them. I would love to own a new Grand Cherokee, but can’t afford one. My experience with old used ones was pretty good, but I still would be hesitant to step back into used Jeep ownership as used models are priced really high and they don’t have a sterling reputation for reliability. They probably need to get back to offering a capable product at the entry level, build that brand loyalty and owners will come back and step into the higher level models eventually.
At this point I am completely over Jeep. Like, OVER OVER. I don’t even want to see the kids OVER! There is nothing about this brand I like anymore, nothing. From the people to the vehicles, just nothing is appealing enough that I can’t find in a brand where I don’t get completely stereotyped into some sort of box. Sorry, David, but the brand YOU love doesn’t really exist anymore.
I hadn’t honestly thought too much about it, but reading your comment made me realize that I’m in the same boat. If I were going to get a “lifestyle” vehicle, at this point it would be the Bronco. And the rest of the Jeep lineup is either too expensive, or just “meh.”
I don’t have the money for most of the lineup, but if Jeep wants the Grand Wagoneer to be their “Escalade moment,” why does it look like a Grand Cherokee? I get brands wanting to have a “corporate face,” but there’s no imagination over there outside of the Renegade.
With Toyota (seemingly) getting in on the game again, especially hopefully bringing hybrids into this segment, what’s the point of Jeep?
My neighbor a few doors down has a Grand Cherokee and a Grand Wagoneer. The Cherokee looks awesome, but when you scale the look up to the Wagoneer it looks ridiculous. I see them often side by side, so that probably just amplifies it.
Every time I see a Wagoneer, I think the same.
I also make the joke that the guy that bought the Grand Wagoneer must be upset people don’t understand how much money he spent on his vehicle! lol
Jeep seems to be focusing too much on those hip social media influences with their complicated shoes
You stole my Jesus fish!!
Jeep used to mean something. Now it means VERY expensive rough riding SUV that probably steers around puddles in the parking lot and has a hard top with the AC running in the summertime. Like that is what I see with 90% of Jeeps now. The amount of “Jeep Club” stickers on windshields is amazing, but every driver is a some soccer mom or dork that has no idea what highlift jack is nor how to work a winch. In fact, never have even seen a winch.
Like other products and name brands over the years, once the cool kids get their hands on them, they aren’t cool anymore. And certainly not $50k+ cool for a Wrangler that rides like a block of cement as an everyday driver.
Jeep should get back to the roots that made it a brand in the first place: bare bones off road utility. Get rid of the Wagoneer, Renegade, and compass and bring the Cherokee back to it’s previous abilities. Then to truly envelop the off road market, they should begin producing UTVs that draw heavily on the WWII Willys Jeep.
No one would buy it, they all want touch screens and heated seats etc etc
Yeah, everyone on these kind of sites say the same thing: “Bring back the cheap, manual transmission, off road Jeep with the interior you can hose out”.
In reality, Jeeps success has been turning the Wrangler into a 4-door convertible for upper middle class people to run errands in. They’ll even pay for the Rubicon package, just make sure it has heated seats.
For a while, they had no competition. Now the Bronco is here. It is arguably cooler than the Wrangler and these 50-something year old buyers with disposable income can easily go buy one of those instead of the latest special edition Wrangler.
Frankly, I’m not certain it’s even possible.
Jeep is, by their own doing, in an impossible position. They have nobody to blame for this but themselves.
The Grand Cherokee and Wagoneer have never been cheap models. Adjusted for inflation, a 1978 Cherokee Golden Eagle would be $56,000. A 1983 Wagoneer Limited with the V8 rings in at $58k. A 1990 Grand Wagoneer had reached $67,000. Only in the very early 80’s were the prices below average there. (The effect of AMC’s desperation more than anything else.)
They can’t reduce the price without damaging those brands. They’re ‘premium,’ ‘upscale,’ ‘luxury.’ Particularly Wagoneer (which being a Jeep-but-don’t-say-Jeep thing is so incredibly stupid it’s not funny.) Especially as they’re just finally getting the reputation for ‘premium’ back – at the cost of any pretense of offroading. I’m not convinced that’s a good trade.
The Wrangler is the culmination of more than 40 years of begrudgingly doing the absolute minimum to keep it on the road. Which has made necessary regulatory fixes staggeringly expensive. On top of that, they’ve leaned fully into the ‘we’d delete airbags if we could, but how about a HEMI!?’, Call of Duty Special Edition (no SERIOUSLY,) Orange Crush edition (WHY?!,) and other such nonsense, making the base Wrangler ‘meh’ and undesirable. Not that they’ve been building any.
And every other model in the past two decades has been one built out of “well, I guess we should have something in this segment, what’s laying around?” Nobody was clamoring for the Compass or the Patriot or especially not the godsforsaken Commander. (Whoever approved that with a V6 should be out of a job. Seriously.)
What’s needed to fix it is nothing short of an impossible task, broken down into these very succinct points:
Any time anyone asks me what’s wrong with Jeep, there isn’t a one in the past 10 years I can’t point to. Chrysler, believe it or not, was a very good steward of the brand because they said “no, we are not going to try wedging Jeeps into every segment. Wrangler, Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, and make them last so we can print money.”
It was under Dumber-Chrysler that Jeep turned into “we gotta fill that segment! And that one! And that one too! And sell them to anybody who can fog a mirror! Actually make that part optional!” Which doesn’t work.
If it worked, they wouldn’t be saddled with an unconscionable number of sub-subprime notes on Renegades and Compasses and Not-Cherokees. If it worked, they wouldn’t be going “why nobody buy Grand Cherokee?!” (Because you pissed away your key differentiators and brand loyalty chasing everybody else! The WK2’s about as off-road capable as a Honda Civic, and the WL’s even worse!) If it worked, dealers wouldn’t be desperately trying to dump still unsold Not-Jeep Wagoneers at $5k, $10k, $15k, even $20k below sticker.
And the fact is that brand loyalty only goes so far. If you have a die-hard Wrangler fan and the only thing on the lot is a High Altitude ($57k+) they can’t afford? Then they’re not going to buy a new Wrangler. They’ll look for a used one. Total redesigns are expensive, so the base model ends up coming up in price, with similar results. (Plus everyone’s going to lose their mind over the changes and threaten to boycott like they do every new model.)
How do you even begin to design something properly XJ-like in today’s regulatory environment? The engine’s the least of the problems; it’s how do you get the cavernous, airy interior with 8 mandatory airbags and side impact protection that isn’t just ‘hope for the best’?
And how the hell do you sell an executive team hellbent on being the largest volume manufacturer in the world on cutting models and volume drastically? Much less eating huge capital expenses. A team that simply does not get that Jeep was never intended or meant to be a volume brand, it was always a niche brand that did well because they owned that niche and didn’t go chasing volume.
The whole reason Jeep was and remains one of the most valuable brands in the world, was recognition and sticking to what they did well. Everybody knows what a Jeep is; it’s a Wrangler, it’s an XJ Cherokee, it’s an SJ Wagoneer, it’s a ZJ Grand Cherokee. You show people a picture of one of those cars and they immediately go “JEEP! It’s a Jeep!”
You show somebody a picture of a current Cherokee and they go “uh, I dunno, a Kia?” Here’s a picture of a Wagoneer. “Uh… Chevy? GMC?” Renegade. “Uh… I have no idea.”
Dammnit, RootWyrm, why do you have to be right all the time? I’ll add that Jeep is a “classless” (or perhaps marque without classes is kinder) brand, whereas some manufacturers offer models of that kind, like the Land Cruiser. The reason I bring that up, is you have people from a broad spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds liking Jeep for very different reasons. Some folks like the bare bones nature of it (cheapish at base), some folks like the capability, and some are simply after the image it offers. When you move everything upstream in terms of price, you really reduce your appeal and, consequently, customer base.
To imply that Jeep is classless is actually to fundamentally misunderstand the history. Jeep at it’s peak, was very stark there. You had the Cherokee which was for everyone. The Wrangler for the people who wanted off-roading or were too poor for the Cherokee. And then the Grand Wagoneer for people with money who also lived on dirt roads.
The 1991 Grand Wagoneer had a sticker starting at over $30,000 before tax. For a car from the 1970’s that hadn’t been updated since, that got 12MPG highway on it’s best day. Ford Explorer XL 4×4 money; Nissan Maxima GXE (when that was a good car) money. The 1991 Wrangler was just $12,800 by comparison – Ford Escort money. And the Cherokee started at $20,000, right in the middle. And that was after some significant narrowing of the price gaps with the impending exit of the Grand Wagoneer.
But you’re right in that they had a unifying theme in their niche. It was a marque that had marked stratification in the models, but was unified in that anybody with any Jeep had something that could take on the worst terrain imaginable. Anybody might have a good reason to want a Jeep. Brand new $35,000 SJ’s pulling 20-year old CJs out of ditches on the trails. THAT was where the value always truly was.
And much more importantly, everyone knew what a Jeep was. Instantly. It was one of the most recognizable cars on the road, full stop. (Still is to an extent with the Wrangler.)
And they’ve destroyed all of it chasing ‘volume.’ The Wrangler costs more than the Not-Cherokee, for far too little. ($33k on a MY22 didn’t even get you air conditioning, forget CarPlay.) The current Not-Cherokee is little more than a hunchbacked sedan. The Grand Cherokee, man, I don’t even know where to begin with WK and WL. I really don’t. The only thing they really kept right is ‘station wagon but now with headroom.’
Out of curiosity, what’s your opinion on the WJ? I’ve had a couple and found them to be comfortable and competent. For the most part, they felt, at least to me, like some sort of evolution of the ZJ.
I was always a fan of the WJ’s looks and interior, just not it’s motor options. It was very much an evolution of the ZJ and the introduction of the 545RFE, which is a damn fine gearbox. The problem is to get the 545RFE you had to get the disastrous 4.7 PowerTrash. And ticking the 4.0/42RE box instantly locked you out of options you’d want in the Grand Cherokee.
Most WJs were a genuinely nice place to sit. Which was a good thing, because you could be damn sure you’d be doing that by the side of the road. That 4.7 is so bad that a quick perusal of 2004’s, it’s quite literally 10:1 4.0 to 4.7.
Agreed. I would’ve loved to have had the 545RFE in my JK, but we got stuck with the NAG1. Every 545RFE I had, and I’ve had a couple, has been great. The NAG1 is said to be able to handle a lot of power, but I feel like it’s still not quite as robust and has too many annoying idiosyncrasies.
Your Gladiator comment is intriguing. As the owner of a Comanche, who specifically seeked out the best one I could find, it fits my needs for a truck perfectly. If I could have gotten a new Gladiator but I’m two door with a 6ft-6.5ft bed and a stick shift, I would have immediately purchased one. I spent three years looking for the right Comanche. The current Gladiator is way too large of a vehicle.
Not going to lie; it surprised me as well just how catastrophically bad the Gladiator has actually gone. Because one would think the target market is people who want a Wrangler but also want to keep up with the Joneses’ F150, and therefore, huge and willing to drop $70k every 3 years. They sell nearly 200,000 Wranglers a year, and Ford sells over 750,000 F150’s alone.
Turns out that market never existed. People just wanted a Comanche. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’d happily buy a long bed Gladiator with King/Xtra cab so the kiddos have jump seats, but Jeep will probably never build it.
The Gladiator is just a bridge too far, they’re asking more than F150 XLT prices for something with less room/comfort than a Taco. Think a Wrangler Unlimted with slightly bigger rear and a tailgate/removable rear seats may have been a better option.
Ah, but they aren’t.
An F150 XLT Supercrew with the 6 foot bed at this point will cost you $50,000 (nice try hiding the freight charge, Ford,) and by the point you option it up to a 4×4 FX4 with the same towing capacity and payload you’re pushing over $62,000.
Yep, I think going 4 door was a mistake. Maybe 2 door with an extended cab (and no doors for the back). Or just a 2 door with a bigger bed a la Scrambler.
I’m not sure what you mean when you say they haven’t updated the Wrangler enough in 40 years. They haven’t updated it more than absolutely necessary in 90 years, which is the point.
I suspect it’s the need at some point to stop papering over things and start fresh.
Same place the Mustang was in the 90s/early 00s…it was the point where the chassis was just too ancient to deliver anything approaching the feel/performance that contemporary buyers expected.
I own one, and it’s always felt positively antiquated compared with even the most basic economy car of its time. While I appreciate that charm, most buyers wouldn’t and Ford knew it.