The future of the Jeep brand!?

[drover]

Oh - What I would give for a diesel PHEV! If only the 4xe was diesel.

Doubt you will ever get a diesel PHEV but looking at the 4xe and the ones like the soon to arrive Ranger Lightning which is possibly functional, I can't see really much going for it to make anyone want to spend the extra $$$, with such a tiny range on battery and fuel burn is about what I burn now so what is the attraction ??? Gotta laugh when they say you can power your camp from your vehicle, no mention as to how you charge it to leave the place ..................

Stellantis has shot itself in the foot as all Chrysler buyers tend to do and it does look like Stellantis is trying to move out of the US market so I wouldn't be surprised if the old Chrysler marques have a For Sale sign up soon and Fiat will probably follow Jeep in leaving our shores ................... It really looks like Ford is the safest brand actually ....

[Jeeper6]

Was thinking the same...the "Jeep" brand name has been damaged beyond recovery thanks to both FCA's incompetence and then Stellantis. Who in their right mind would even consider buying the "Jeep" brand name now? It would take years to rebuild faith in any product bearing the name...it is a real shame as the WK2 was a brilliant vehicle, let down partly by the total failure of Stellantis to recognise that a number of the VM Diesels fitted did have too many failures...followed by the stupid decision in dropping of the diesel option altogether, as well as then dropping the Hemi from the range as well! Faithful Jeep buyers have been leaving the brand in droves buying Fords, Toyotas and Nissans as the new Jeeps towing capacity and appeal just wasn't there anymore...the new "L" is more the Toorak Tractor type offering for all the Soccer Mums.

Toyota bit the bullet and recalled over 100,000 of their vehicles to fit a new engine as there had been a number of early failures. That act alone helped restored confidence in the brand name...Stellantis obviously didn't care about the trashing of the brand name as they sold plenty of other brand names to fall back on.

When it comes time to replace the old girl, I will look for another slightly newer WK2 to see me out. I just could not see myself driving anything else...

[JeanLuke]

Yeah - I won't be replacing my WK2 with any new Jeep models. I might consider a Gladiator if they give it a decent towing capacity. The most likely next car for me would be a Grenadier, subject to how well they age. They need to pass the time-test.

[drover]

Its all starting to happen earlier than I thought, major reshaping is gonna happen and I think its not finished, probably Ford will be the only one that doesn't go through the mincer...

https://www.news.com.au/technology/motoring/motoring-news/stellantis-chief-executive-carlos-tavares-resigns/news-story/a25199854ec84ed3a36009010ef1e87e

[Treebreakerbob]

The great grandson of the founder. Xxxx Chrysler wants to buy it back in the States but Stellantis won’t sell, wait a bit longer it could be a bargain

Chrysler was a very talented company, made rocket sections for the Apollo moon missions and they were the only ones who could make rockets and missiles for the army with a ten out of ten reliability. Bean counters have a lot to answer for

[bjm]

This decline in Jeep sales has been happening for years! Stellantis took over and completely stuffed it up worldwide and totally misread the Australian market re no diesel GCs! A brand that has been now decimated to the point of disappearing from the Australia ,NZ markets!

[FARWEST]

They missed an opportunity with the decline in the reliability of the 'unbreakable' brand and a return to the unreliabilty of the other two BIG brands from Japan.
The 'unbreakable' brand saved face by providing unquestioned replacement... kudos to them.
The other two decided.... we'll run the same path as the Insurance Industry and decline claims until the consumer REALLY pushes the Laws providing Consumer Protection.
Our brand has run that same path for many years ..pity....the Americanisation of the Legal system, Insurance Industry and over the past decade or so, our society on a whole...ie: not taking responsibility for any actions or holding true to agreements without the intervention of a flooded Legal system geared to ensure the guilty are not held accountable.... has created the exact environment necessary to empower the corrupt and lessen the ability of the average consumer.
As Treebreaker stated.... Bean Counters have a lot to answer for.... not only in our brand.

[LeCheese]

This decline in Jeep sales has been happening for years! Stellantis took over and completely stuffed it up worldwide and totally misread the Australian market re no diesel GCs! A brand that has been now decimated to the point of disappearing from the Australia ,NZ markets!

The Australian (and wider export) market is a drop in the ocean - the cost to develop and tool a WL with a diesel just for our tiny market was understandably deemed not viable.

Diesel Grands have always been a smaller marketshare in Jeep's core market of the US. Once the issues with the EcoDiesel in WK2s and Rams hurt their reputation and made them even less desirable, it was game over for the diesel Grand. That's before difficult emissions requirements and new 'laws of averages' when it comes to outputs that apply to European manufacturers (of which may apply to Stellantis - not sure exactly if it's brand- or group-based) are even considered.

While the decline of the Jeep brand is disappointing, I do actually think Stellantis made the correct call in their pivot to a better-equipped-but-more-expensive product in the WL, it was just their execution that was slightly amiss. The 'kid bus' market of a comfortable, medium-to-large SUV is absolutely enormous in the US (and rapidly growing here, for that matter), and if the WL had properly broken in, we could be heralding it as the saviour of the Jeep brand. Once it became clear that Jeep couldn't build a product at the right price point for its core audience, they saw this as a lucrative market to try and chase instead. I firmly believe if they'd gone all in on the Hurricane inline 6 (but also maybe retained the Hemi) and managed to get to market ~$5-10k cheaper, it would've sold like hot cakes in the US.

The reality is that new vehicles are no longer cheap - people are paying $100k for a new Prado with a 10 year old tractor engine for god sake! The WL is still easily one of the best-equipped and nicest places to be in the medium-to-large SUV market - if only they'd released it with anything other than the Pentastar...

[drover]

Agree for sure LeCheese, the Australian market is a side show for most manufacturers, Jeeps reputation of good after sales has never been great here or OS and that goes back to its first foray here in the 70's, the WL is surely aimed at a different market to that of the WK2