Jeep's Mission Impossible

"Cause there is no more new frontier,
We have got to make it here."

Eagles, The Last Resort, 1976

Jeep, though built over the years by a succession of underqualified corporations, has managed to keep its reputation for ruggedness and off-road capability. Like other brands, Jeep must reach out to a broader constituency, lure younger buyers, sell to women and Europeans, and improve fuel economy, and retain the brand’s core values.

This will be especially difficult for Cerbrus Capital Management, new owners of Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep. But CEO Bob Nardelli has promised not to sell off the brand.

Riders on the Storm

My first off road experience (1972) was a harrowing race in a 1949 Willys Jeep pickup, following a group of V8 powered CJ-5 Jeeps up a wintry trail. We flogged the 60-horsepower, 134-cubic-inch, flathead 4 cylinder, bouncing wildly without seatbelts, bursting through drifts with snow spraying everywhere.

We couldn't keep up with the rest of the club.

Until the lead CJ got stuck, its front differential hung on a big stump hidden under the deep snow.

I was hooked.

Though there never was a Jeep, there has been a 4x4 ever since.

When I first came to Texas, in 1955, Galveston's West Beach, now nothing but hotels and condos, stretched for miles. Nothing but loose sand and dunes.

My '71 Bronco loved Texas beaches and dunes, in the old days before Padre Seashore and other Texan beaches became sand highways through restricted conservatories.

The California Oceano Dunes at Pismo Beach, once home to a large fleet of tube chassis sandrails and hot Jeeps, was a favorite spot.

Say Goodbye to the King of the Cowboys

To me, the decline of the off road Jeep is symbolic of the decline of America, of freedom ebbing away in a new age of overcrowding and globalization.

The venerable marque became part of DaimlerChrysler when Germany's Daimler-Benz took over Chrysler Corporation in 1998.

Cerbrus Capital bought Chrysler in 2007.

This is the only American brand dedicated entirely to the sport-utility market. Customers, even soccer moms, expect every Jeep to exude off-road capability, but increasingly expect creature comforts.

So a new oxymoron has crept into the lexicon: "softroader."

With the increased competition from "luxury" SUVs, Jeep sales have fallen.

Chrysler responded by expanding the Jeep brand from 3 models to 6 for 2007. The venerable warhorse, now named Wrangler, has Commander, Compass, Grand Cherokee, Patriot, and Liberty, as stable-mates.

Jeep Compass, a smallish Jeep based on a car platform, is less expensive and less rugged than traditional Jeeps, but it provides a fuel efficient entry-level choice.

Commander, a real barge, was introduced just in time for the 2006 fuel price spike, yawn.

Unlimited Bucks the Trend

But what about the 116-inch wheelbase, 4300 lb 4 door Wrangler "Unlimited?"

A cool Jeep Wrangler Unlimited in winter.

There were slow-selling long wheelbase CJ-6/7/8 Jeeps in years past, but this new stretch is a hit with die-hard Jeep fans.

This one caught me by surprise.

The four-door Unlimited Jeepster, a Jeep for real when compared to the SUV barges, is exceeding sales forecasts, its assembly line running overtime!

Wrangler sales are up 84% through May '07, with Unlimited leading the way.

Way to go, Jeep!

Of course, as Chrysler well knows, although over half of Wrangler owners go off road, only a tiny minority of all SUV buyers ever will.

And of that group those who would risk late model sheet metal, paint jobs, tire sidewalls, and drivetrains by rock climbing, bushwacking, and other real 4x4 stunts are few.

75% of Wrangler buyers are first-timers and nearly 25% are sold in snow free southern states. These folks don't buy based on trail-rated off-road capability. To get listed as trail-rated, a Jeep has to qualify in 37 different areas required by the Nevada Automotive Test Center.

Cost Effective

Why do 4x4 clubs have so much membership turnover? Why did the 3 and 4 wheeler bikes destroy the western sand buggy business?

Because off road play is bloody expensive, and increasingly impractical. It's mechanically dangerous for daily driver Jeeps.

The roll bar isn't just for looking cool.

As old age approaches, I ride motorcycles (48 mpg) on lonely highways and back roads in the American West, while I still can. My 14 mpg 4x4 Ford Ranger and bass boat sit in the driveway, monuments to days gone by.

If I see a Jeep club working its way uphill, I stop and hang out a while, then ride on.

Reality Check

Marketing studies show that the average SUV uses all wheel drive to pick up the kids safely during a snowstorm, drive on the fast disappearing beach, or reach a campground or trailhead over roads ordinary cars might not conquer.

Environmental concerns increasingly restrict off road travel.

Then there is the safety issue: the diluted brand must support multiple air bags, electronic stability control, and second row child seat anchors.

So in deliberately diluting the brand's character, but trying to maintain the Jeep mystique, Chrysler is actually giving the majority of customers what they want.

What does this mean to the 98% of the Texas car buying public who aren't rock climbers?

Simply that the Chrysler product, like any other, must be carefully researched and matched to the buyer's real needs, before money is committed. Know before you go.

J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study gave the 2007 Jeep Wrangler only 2.5 stars for Overall Manufacturing Quality.

The entire 2007 lineup earned 2 and 3 star ratings.

In the J.D. Power and Associates 2006 Customer Retention Study, Jeeps ranked 19 out of 37 makes. 40.5% of those surveyed returned to purchase another vehicle.

One of my sons has a Grand Cherokee. It has run about 60K mikes without incident.

I remember the American Motors Jeeps. While I distrust Chrysler on quality and warranty I think the product has improved since the AMC days.

But Chrysler has recently demonstrated, with the sales bank fiasco and Jeep Commander rollout, that they can make big mistakes in the US market. By adding yet another group of increasingly redundant softer SUVs, they may be extending that record.

With the German ownership gone, I expect to see a couple weak SUV's exit the lineup.

Old line Texan Jeepguys may be disappointed when the classic seven-slot grille and round headlamps are all that's left.

From a business standpoint, the company has moved their lineup of Jeeps in the right direction, away from a declining enthusiast market and toward the mass market.

As readers of texas-cars-and-dealerships know, I have little respect for the SUV marketing fad.

So I applaud buyers who are voting with their feet, buying the new Unlimited instead of a boaty SUV.

And I still want a new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, reported to be in short supply.

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