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FCA Merger effect on Jeep?

The Last Cowboy

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They were very tough little cars. At a time when new car price and quality were out of control, Iacoca introduced these and the Omn/Horizon at just the right time with an warranty that most couldn’t pass up if they were in the market for a new car.

Remember, Lee Iacoca is the man who brought us the original Ford Mustang and Bronco. The man had a keen eye for not only manufacture and design, but for knowing what the public wanted before they even knew what they wanted.
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ThirtyOne

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PSA has been studying the N.A. market and planning a return for the last 5 years. That is about 5 years longer than Fiat spent planning its return to these shores.

Peugeot even has had a representative here, by the name of Larry Dominique.

Nevertheless, if Carlos Tavares is as smart as he is supposed to be, he will leverage the established recognition of the Chrysler and Dodge names here, instead of reintroducing Peugeot.

Most likely, as soon as he knew he was coming back to N.A., Tavares set up a team to work in parallel to Mr. Dominique’s, tasked with finding out what it will take to revive all these half-dead brands he is going to inherit from FCA.
I am very interested to see if they rebadge Peugeots as Chryslers for the US market. It just seems to make so much sense with the brand recognition and dealer network already in place - and basically a blank slate to fill in.

But when they say they have a vision for Peugeots in the US, they may be invested in the idea of bring that brand back here. And maybe even killing Chrysler to do it. Or as someone mentioned they can bring them in through what's left of the Fiat dealer network.
 

ThirtyOne

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aldo98229

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Interesting to note, Chysler’s wildly, and I mean wildly as everyone wanted one, succesful Jeep Grand Cherokee was originally conceived and design began by Dick Teague at AMC. They were so pleased with reception, critic reviews and sales of the XJ, that they immediately went to work on it’s replacement. Iacoca valued the XJ so much that it was kept in production.
Indeed, AMC’s ingenuity, combined with Chrysler’s marketing know-how, entrepreneurial culture and deeper pockets brought us some great Jeeps.

I was selling Jeeps when Grand Cherokee and TJ had just come out: they drove on-road and off-road unlike anything else; they sold themselves. Those Jeeps were years ahead anything GM and Ford offered. The only thing that came close were the 2nd and 3rd generation 4Runners, which is perhaps Toyota’s best product ever.
 

Sean L

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I am very interested to see if they rebadge Peugeots as Chryslers for the US market. It just seems to make so much sense with the brand recognition and dealer network already in place - and basically a blank slate to fill in.

But when they say they have a vision for Peugeots in the US, they may be invested in the idea of bring that brand back here. And maybe even killing Chrysler to do it. Or as someone mentioned they can bring them in through what's left of the Fiat dealer network.
It would be good to fill in the sedan market segments with rebranded Peugeot models. The Avenger and Dart weren't bad cars but they just couldn't make any money with em.

Edit: Replacing my wife's Honda with a Dodge version of the Peugeot 508 GT Line would be nice.

https://www.peugeot.co.uk/showroom/508/design/
 
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The Last Cowboy

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Chrysler could be saved and compete with cars in the near luxury area where Mecury used to be and is now occupied by Buick, Toyota Avalon, Infinity and entry level Lexus cars. But it would need a complete and total reworking. The 300 won’t save it for much longer and it now has a long reputation as a thug car.

Dodge, it’s a modern day Pontiac and is painted into a corner. The few cars it has need to be heavily redone or replaced. SRT and Hellcats are keeping them on life support. Put most cars, CUVs and minivans in the Chrysler basket. Get rid of the Ram brand (I hate the name and logo, superficial I know) and put the trucks back under Dodge. No cars. Ram was created by Cerberus, I believe, to sell the truck line off to Nissan, Freightliner or IH.

Put the performance cars under a resurrected Plymouth or Mopar brand. No trucks

Make the brands mean something rather than everything. It’s just labeling, but it means a lot.

Jeep needs to focus on the Wrangler, Gladiator and true SUVs. The compact and midsize CUVs need to go and be replaced by something or things more capable. Looks arent enough. True capability sells wether people need it or not. A true to the original successor to the original GC and maybe an inovative, yet capable compact SUV. Look at how many Rubicons sell. And that Mercedes G series, people finance those things for 10 years just to have one and will never so much as drive in gravel with one.
 

Sean L

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Chrysler could be saved and compete with cars in the near luxury area where Mecury used to be and is now occupied by Buick, Toyota Avalon, Infinity and entry level Lexus cars. But it would need a complete and total reworking. The 300 won’t save it for much longer and it now has a long reputation as a thug car.

Dodge, it’s a modern day Pontiac and is painted into a corner. The few cars it has need to be heavily redone or replaced. SRT and Hellcats are keeping them on life support. Put most cars, CUVs and minivans in the Chrysler basket. Get rid of the Ram brand (I hate the name and logo, superficial I know) and put the trucks back under Dodge. No cars. Ram was created by Cerberus, I believe, to sell the truck line off to Nissan, Freightliner or IH.

Put the performance cars under a resurrected Plymouth or Mopar brand. No trucks

Make the brands mean something rather than everything. It’s just labeling, but it means a lot.

Jeep needs to focus on the Wrangler, Gladiator and true SUVs. The compact and midsize CUVs need to go and be replaced by something or things more capable. Looks arent enough. True capability sells wether people need it or not. A true to the original successor to the original GC and maybe an inovative, yet capable compact SUV. Look at how many Rubicons sell. And that Mercedes G series, people finance those things for 10 years just to have one and will never so much as drive in gravel with one.
Keep the Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, Wrangler and Gladiator for Jeep. Renegade and Compass can be quickly morphed into the Chrysler line to buy time for another Crossover to come into development.

Update the 300 and Charger/Challenger. The police car market should not be abandoned, lol.

I do agree that Ram Trucks should have just stayed with Dodge... the Retroactive split was annoying when I was emailed several times to tell me my "Ram Dakota" was due for service... :headbang:
 
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bullfrog3459

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Man, they should hire us and we can fix all of their US Dodge, Ram, Chrysler and Jeep problems! :like:
That is no lie. Listen to your customers and things go better. :)
 

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FCA's biggest weakness, IMO, is that it hasn't had a strategy for its brands. It developed ad-hoc products wherever it saw an opening in the market and slapped a Jeep badge onto it.

The relaunch of Alfa Romeo is as close as it comes to laying down something remotely resembling a brand strategy, and even that was a half-assed effort.
 

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ThirtyOne

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It would be good to fill in the sedan market segments with rebranded Peugeot models. The Avenger and Dart weren't bad cars but they just couldn't make any money with em.

Edit: Replacing my wife's Honda with a Dodge version of the Peugeot 508 GT Line would be nice.

https://www.peugeot.co.uk/showroom/508/design/
I think they will focus on crossovers more than sedans and their cars tend to be a little small and underpowered for US tastes. But they could definitely be modified to be successful here in the right segment.
 

ThirtyOne

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Chrysler could be saved and compete with cars in the near luxury area where Mecury used to be and is now occupied by Buick, Toyota Avalon, Infinity and entry level Lexus cars. But it would need a complete and total reworking. The 300 won’t save it for much longer and it now has a long reputation as a thug car.

Dodge, it’s a modern day Pontiac and is painted into a corner. The few cars it has need to be heavily redone or replaced. SRT and Hellcats are keeping them on life support. Put most cars, CUVs and minivans in the Chrysler basket. Get rid of the Ram brand (I hate the name and logo, superficial I know) and put the trucks back under Dodge. No cars. Ram was created by Cerberus, I believe, to sell the truck line off to Nissan, Freightliner or IH.

Put the performance cars under a resurrected Plymouth or Mopar brand. No trucks

Make the brands mean something rather than everything. It’s just labeling, but it means a lot.

Jeep needs to focus on the Wrangler, Gladiator and true SUVs. The compact and midsize CUVs need to go and be replaced by something or things more capable. Looks arent enough. True capability sells wether people need it or not. A true to the original successor to the original GC and maybe an inovative, yet capable compact SUV. Look at how many Rubicons sell. And that Mercedes G series, people finance those things for 10 years just to have one and will never so much as drive in gravel with one.
I really disagree. Jeep sells 300,000 of those small crossovers a year. And they are the best-selling Jeeps in Europe where customers like smaller cars. This is a segment with a lot of boring cars and Jeep's SUV DNA differentiates them. Jeep's biggest hole ironically has been with SUVs - no 3-row SUV and no full-size SUV to compete with the Tahoe. They are filling these holes now with the 3-row Grand Cherokee and the Wagoneer but they have moved slow. And their lack of an efficient modern powerful engine is going to be exposed there.

RAM has built a very successful brand for trucks. Why abandon that? What's really curious is they haven't built a mid-size truck. I had expected a Dakota Maybe with the new platforms they can create a small unibody truck. It wouldn't work in the US but could help the brand oversees. They may already sell some kind of re-badge in some markets.

Dodge is a niche performance brand now which is fine. The problem is that they don't sell any CUVs. I also think they should make a performance pick-up. Maybe even a unibody smaller pickup. And resurrecting additional brands? I think they are more likely to reduce brands than expand.

I don't see Chrysler having the brand reputation or the right dealer network to be successful as a luxury car brand. If they want to compete in the luxury space maybe they should use Alfa Romeo branding. What Chrysler needs are CUVs with broad appeal. You would think they would re-skin Peugeots to fill out that line. That achieves two goals - get Peugeots into the US marketplace and revitalize Chrysler at the same time. Peugeot's brand is positioned similarly in Europe as Chrysler.
 

The Last Cowboy

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@ThirtyOne. I kinda agree on the Jeep CUV from a sales standpoint. The Wrangler draws many dreamers in, then practicality, reality or maybe their spouse realizes that a small wagon is a better choice for their needs than a Wrangler. The new Cherokee has turned out to be a fairly good AWD/FWD car. The Renegade, well... Compass, Patriot those were awful. The new Compass is a little better, but it and the Renegade do more damage than good to the brand, in my opinion.

I don't think 3 rows are important in a midsize SUV/CUV. The 3rd row causes all of the seats to be made smaller just to fit the 3rd row and causes too many comprimises in my opinion. I have never been happy in one that I have driven or rode in. The GC and 4runner sell just fine without the 3rd row. The new full size Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer will have the proper space for 3 comfortable rows. The Ford Flex was a great CUV/wagon with 3 comfortable and usable rows. It had a stupid name and was too low to the ground, so they never sold well. I honestly think the 3rd row issue has more to do with auto journalists than actual buyers.

Jeeps small wagons/crossovers need to take a lesson from Subaru. Get people enthusiastic about them. Make them more rugged and capable. Right now, if I was in the market, I would take a CrossTrek over a Compass and an Outback over a Cherokee.
 

CT_LFC

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I will wait for more information before assuming FCA / dealer is trying to pull a fast one. Think of what we read here a few days ago about the owner who drilled holes in his roof to install a rack and Jeep denied to replace it under warranty when it cracked. We could have seen an article that said "Jeep will not replace roof that cracked during offroading, what Wranglers are designed to do" but there would be a lot more to that story.
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