FCA Not producing tan soft tops

[Bubba33]

So I’m not sure if your post is directed at me or not, however I’ll say this in response...

A company like Jeep, they were probably testing the waters to gauge interest with offering a Wrangler with a tan soft top. They throw out a few pre-production models with a tan top, a small niche of people get really excited talking about how they have to have it and Jeep decides to float it as an option. Where the reality sets in is that Jeep as a manufacturing company, they don’t manufacture anything without an order. I’m not talking about the special orders from the schlumps like you and me, I’m talking about the orders dealers place with Jeep for their inventory. Now you see, dealers are a finicky group, they only want to bring product (vehicles) onto their lots which will potentially move quick. The faster they turn over inventory the less money it costs them in finance charges (because they’re borrowing money to buy vehicles from Jeep to sell to consumers), or even potentially on the sale price. Bring something on that only caters to a “small niche” and they’re left hoping that the “right” buyer comes along is willing to buy it, if not they run the risk of it sitting on their lots for an extended period of time or having to discount it heavily to sell it someone who is only partially interested in what it has.

Speaking from my own experience searching dealer inventory within a 150 mile radius for something that had the options I wanted because I was getting sick of how long it was taking for Jeep to build and ship my order one thing I noticed was nearly every JL that I found that was sort of close to what I was looking for was either white, black or granite with the occasional gray. There were very few colors like blue, red, orange or green or even models that were dual top. What infer from that is dealers know their target audience and what the vast majority will buy. Does this suck for the niche customer who wants something unique or different that what everyone else is running, yes and it likely means you’re going to be on your own to figure out how to get what you need by sourcing it from a different company.

Yes it was to you. If somebody ordered it and then it wasn't available, it wasn't the customers fault.

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[kkuntz01]

Yes it was to you. If somebody ordered it and then it wasn't available, it wasn't the customers fault.

I never implied it was.

 

[Rahneld]

I agree with a lot that's been said above. FCA, like any cost conscience business, is less apt to take the "build it and they will come," mindset about tan tops, in fact flipping that reasoning to "when enough come requesting it with down payments, we'll build it."

It's hard to assign "blame" to any one firm, FCA, Bestop, etc. For example, Bestop, I'm sure, outsources aspects of its build to textiles firms that make their fabrics, who also want larger production runs to reduce cost/unit.

I'm sure FCA does their market research, and yet a part of me wonders if tan top sales might, in fact, adhere to a "build it and they will come" sales model. To point, I'm wondering if enough people had it, and prospective buyers saw it, if that might boost its sales.

Maybe not. : - )

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