Wrangler plays Monopoly

[Jimmyb]

The Wrangler. It’s hard to argue that it isn’t one of the world’s most iconic vehicles. Instantly recognisable by millions, if not billions of people around the world.

Even today, with the Wrangler being a fairly common sight in Australia (and very common in North America) it still turns heads, and, more importantly, is a regular on the trails it was intended for. It might be a lot more comfortable and practical than it used to be, but when you get down to it, it’s a relatively cheap, relatively basic, stripped down off-roader that just happens to be useable as a daily driver if you need it to do that. Its basic ness is also off-putting enough for many casual buyers who might want it for its looks alone.

It’s also popular. And that popularity seems to confound the competition, and represents an untapped market for them.

Rumours out of the US is that General Motors is giving some thought to building something that challenges the Wrangler. It may not come to pass, but if it odes it is hard to see them being successful. Not because GMC isn’t a capable manufacturer, but because nobody seems to be able to duplicate Jeep’s success with the Wrangler.

That’s not to say that they haven’t tried. Land Rover’s Defender is probably the nearest realistic challenger, but outside its home market, the UK, and the militaries of several European and Commonwealth countries it hasn’t enjoyed the ongoing, consistent commercial success that the Wrangler has. Landcover has only been successful engaging the public with more luxurious vehicles.

Toyota, another early competitor, has done the same. It hasn’t made a real, tough as guts, stripped to the bone 4wd since the passing of the FJ40 (I’m intentionally ignoring the 70 series), instead focussing on capable, relatively luxurious 4wds that seem to be increasingly tuned for for on road use than off (when was the last time you saw a Landcruiser 200 plugging mud or hopping across a few rocks?).

The FJ Cruiser, a re-skinned Prado with reasonable off road ability, appeared to be more aimed more at fashion than off-roading, and suffered for it. The range has been cancelled in the US after poor sales, and Australia, where sales have also been trending downwards, surely can’t be far behind.

Nissan and Mitsubishi have gone down the same luxury 4wds that are more focussed on road use, and towing, than going off road. The Patrol has become a giant (the 17 year old Y61, hardly small or cheap itself, is now Australia only), the Pajero has remained an honest offroader, but largely unchanged, flaws and all, for a decade, and the Pathfinder is now a people mover.

Chinese and Indian manufacturers might step up to the plate, but will they gain the confidence of buyers? The results so far don’t look particularly encouraging.

Of course, the move to more luxurious road 4wds is not necessarily a bad thing. After all, there’s a lot more money to be made selling Prados or Grand Cherokees. But the Wrangler is a great seller in its own right - 210,715 sales worldwide in 2013, and significantly more this year.

It’s a niche, but it’s not a small niche - that’s more Wranglers sold in a year than Porsches of all models (OK, not a fair competition because of the difference in price, but you get my point).

So why is no-one exploiting the market? It isn’t like for-profit companies to intentionally ignore a largish niche where they can extract a few extra hundred million dollars. It has to be simpler than that - development costs, tooling are all expensive but recoverable. What isn’t recoverable is a failed product and lost reputation caused by competing against a company that is the only producer filling a segment, and does it better and more cheaply than anyone else.

Jeep. You’re a monopolist. Long may it continue.

by:
Charles Kooij

[MightyMouse]

And that's also not taking the aftermarket into account.... Wranglers just have so many aftermarket parts available - its a truely massive industry making components that make the Wrangler even better.

Other manufacturers may try and produce a similar off the shelf vehicle.... but its not going to quickly develop the aftermarket options that the Wrangler enjoys.

[Steve F]

The trouble other manufacturers will have is that to compete with the JK it would have to be better, first big problem it would have in the US is it would not be a local product, it just wouldn't be a Jeep. If it cant compete and survive in the massive US market then it just wont be worth building, that means it needs to be GM that build it so they can play on the "Made in the USA" sticker.

And then it comes back to being better than the JK, not easy when you are competing with the Rubicon, that has all the bells and whistles when it comes to offroad. I'd be surprised if any manufacturer would be prepared to invest the cost required to wrestle the market away from the Wrangler knowing full well that it could so easily fail in the US market.

Cheers
Steve

[bruggz351]

I agree wholeheartedly with what has been said already, but will add to Steves comments with, the other thing any other company would have to struggle with is the American patriotism. It is STRONG.
JEEP won the war. nuf sed. That alone, in my opinion has put JEEP in good steed with the American people from the get go.
Then to have a product, built on American pride, by Americans for Americans, man, you'd have to have something pretty damned special to compete with a Wrangler.
Just my opinion.

cheers