What Will Jeep Do to Stay Ahead in the Off-Road War that is Coming?

[MojitoWrangler]

I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are around what Jeep will do to combat the competition it will face soon. The muscle car war drove incredible competition which led Chevy to bring back the Camaro and launch a ZL1; Dodge tried to end the argument with the 700+HP Demon, but Ford is set to release a GT500 that should beat them all….for now.


The same competitive forces are turning to the off-road world and I LOVE IT! The Tacoma TRD Pro, the Chevy Colorado ZR2, now the Ford Ranger Raptor. In about 2 years the SUV market will see the same.


The Toyota 4Runner is due (probably overdue) for a complete redesign- and the new TRD Pro’s already come with snorkels for the first time noting an uptick in their game. Ford is set to release the Bronco in 2020 and Land Rover is bringing the Defender back to the U.S for the first time since the 90s.


Bottom line- our beloved Jeep Wrangler will face more competition in about 2 years than it has faced in the last 20+.


They will have to do something to keep the momentum. What do you think it will be?

1. A Hemi V-8? -people pay $25K for this aftermarket- how many would buy it if it came from the factory?;
2. An independent suspension, Sandstorm concept-type of “fast-off-road” style Wrangler comparable to a Raptor set-up?;
3. A re-release of the Hard Rock Rubicon with more substantial off-road upgrades? What would they be?;

Any other ideas?

Absolutely No V8! FCA already pays a huge carbon penalty for the Wrangler. Look for the V8 power fix to come in the form of all electric high torque motors 2020+

Sponsored

 

[BillyHW]

None of those will be in direct competition with the Wrangler. Tacoma/Colorado/Ranger are all pick ups and generally attract another type of crowd. The pick up do have to sacrifice some off-roadedness for the greater towing and bed. They will typically have a suspension less tuned for off-roading in order to accommodate a higher towing capacity and they will have less departure angle to accommodate the longer bed.

They WILL be capable off-roaders for sure, but the benefits of having a pick up vs a SUV are very different.


The Bronco will be much more of a competitor to the Wrangler, but from what I read they want the Bronco to be a more 'sophisticated' Wrangler which from what I read means they are going to be a competitor mostly for the Grand Cherokee, not the Wrangler.


Wrangler will remain the only true off road oriented open air SUV on the market until Range Rover comes out with a new Defender or something.

Doesn't the Ford Explorer already compete directly with the Grand Cherokee?

 

[BillyHW]

What ever happened to the rumour that GMC was going to release an off-road SUV in the tradition of the Hummer H3/4?

 

[Vegas_Sirk]

Doesn't the Ford Explorer already compete directly with the Grand Cherokee?

Was going to say the same thing.

The Rumors I have heard on the Bronco are its going to compete with the Wrangler 100%, but they are willing to give up a bit of offroad performance in exchange for on road performance. Which is telling me its going to be IFS. I really really believe it will use the Raptor Rangers suspension which is a Watts Link set up (only Ford truck not using rear leafs). Check it out:

 

[Ruby Jack]

Doesn't the Ford Explorer already compete directly with the Grand Cherokee?

Maybe the Bronco will be smaller and compete with the Cherokee? From the concept that I saw it definitely looks larger than the Renegade though.

 

[Vegas_Sirk]

Maybe the Bronco will be smaller and compete with the Cherokee? From the concept that I saw it definitely looks larger than the Renegade though.

There are two. There is the regular Bronco which will complete with Wrangler and a smaller SUV (maybe the Bronco II?) that will compete with the Renegade.

Here is the teaser Ford showed of the new Bronco:

Which looks a lot like the concept show years ago (super imposed on top of the teaser):

And here is the Baby One:

And here are renderings of what people think it will actually look like:

Which totally screams Renegade.

 

[BillyHW]

Maybe the Bronco will be smaller and compete with the Cherokee? From the concept that I saw it definitely looks larger than the Renegade though.

I think the Ford Escape is already lined up as a direct competitor to the Cherokee, and the Ford Edge directly to the Compass.

 

[Lurvis33]

There are two. There is the regular Bronco which will complete with Wrangler and a smaller SUV (maybe the Bronco II?) that will compete with the Renegade.

Here is the teaser Ford showed of the new Bronco:

Which looks a lot like the concept show years ago (super imposed on top of the teaser):

And here is the Baby One:

And here are renderings of what people think it will actually look like:

Which totally screams Renegade.

The Bronco is going on top of the Ranger chassis since they’re going to be produced at the same plant. I just hope they make the Bronco it’s own styling instead of looking like an SUV version of the Ranger.

 

[AZCrawl]

There are two. There is the regular Bronco which will complete with Wrangler and a smaller SUV (maybe the Bronco II?) that will compete with the Renegade.

Here is the teaser Ford showed of the new Bronco:

Which looks a lot like the concept show years ago (super imposed on top of the teaser):

And here is the Baby One:

And here are renderings of what people think it will actually look like:

Which totally screams Renegade.

No competition there, much less a war.

 

[OnlyOne]

There will be zero competition to the wrangler. None. From anyone. And all the other car manufacturers know it. And i’m not even speaking of the Rubicon. The Wrangler is in its own class, to which it will always be lonely.

 

[kylebw7]

First off, you have no idea if they are going off roading. No idea whatsoever.

Second, those 4 bartenders don't comprise a representative sample, and your casual observance of their behavior doesn't constitute real research.

One of them is my gf...I know the other three very well and am there now...I have a bit of a clue as to how they use them

 

[Indio]

Here is the most up to date link I could find: http://www.autonews.com/article/20180319/OEM03/180319755/hot-topic-what-will-defender-look-like

Thanks for the link. I think at this point there are still a lot of unknowns about the replacement for the Defender. I'm probably less optimistic than some in this thread that a bunch of new Defender-like variants will be arriving in the USA anytime soon. Would be happy to be wrong though.

One thing that concerns me is comments such as this from the article and others I have read, where the talk from LR seems more about the spirit of the Defender, because that can be stretched to mean different things. Will see ...

"It will be, has to be, a different kind of vehicle," said Woolley, "but still true to the Defender and Defender principles."

 

[JeepColorado]

Thanks for the link. I think at this point there are still a lot of unknowns about the replacement for the Defender. I'm probably less optimistic than some in this thread that a bunch of new Defender-like variants will be arriving in the USA anytime soon. Would be happy to be wrong though.

One thing that concerns me is comments such as this from the article and others I have read, where the talk from LR seems more about the spirit of the Defender, because that can be stretched to mean different things. Will see ...

"It will be, has to be, a different kind of vehicle," said Woolley, "but still true to the Defender and Defender principles."

I completely agree with the spirit conversations from LR. I read this quote the other day from them- “We have to stop thinking about function in a durable way,” he explained. “When you’re buying into the brand, you’re buying a premium product.”

What does that mean? That we are not interested in building a tough off-roader true to what established our name in the first place so long as there are people out there willing to shell out thousands just for the image? ...that certainly falls right in line with what I've seen of their products the last few years. I hope I'm proven wrong with an SVX Defender here in the US.

 

[offcamber]

Last night I participated in a market study/product evaluation. It was a paid gig, and they were looking for Jeep owners, particularly those who go offroading, but NOT those who did extreme/hardcore trails. They had a vehicle under cover and then a bunch of renderings of various versions of a vehicle along with the Grand Cherokee, 4 Runner TRD Pro and JL Wrangler. We were asked to evaluate the size of the covered vehicle and then give feedback on the various renderings. I'm 99% positive that it was for the new Bronco. It had a really aggressive front and grill, with two of the renderings looking very Raptor-like. It was about the size of a 4 door wrangler, maybe a bit wider. Bubble-like fenders, very wide. The rear half appeared to have an abbreviated cargo area. One of them looked very good, but I don't think it was made to compete with the Wrangler.

 

[BillyHW]

Last night I participated in a market study/product evaluation. It was a paid gig, and they were looking for Jeep owners, particularly those who go offroading, but NOT those who did extreme/hardcore trails. They had a vehicle under cover and then a bunch of renderings of various versions of a vehicle along with the Grand Cherokee, 4 Runner TRD Pro and JL Wrangler. We were asked to evaluate the size of the covered vehicle and then give feedback on the various renderings. I'm 99% positive that it was for the new Bronco. It had a really aggressive front and grill, with two of the renderings looking very Raptor-like. It was about the size of a 4 door wrangler, maybe a bit wider. Bubble-like fenders, very wide. The rear half appeared to have an abbreviated cargo area. One of them looked very good, but I don't think it was made to compete with the Wrangler.

Did you tell them that this was the bold new look America was craving for?

Sponsored