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myfirstjeep

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With Fiat being the primary owner of FCA, the JL will be the first Italian Wrangler. So much for an "American Icon". No matter, I will still be ordering when the banks open!

Lol, just a little ironic Independence Day humor.

Happy 4th everyone!
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myfirstjeep

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Impy5

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I think we'd all like to forget about the Daimler era :)
 

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WXman

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I think we'd all like to forget about the Daimler era :)
Not me. That was the era that saved Chrysler products.

Before Daimler came along:

Horrible reputation for transmission failures
Terrible fit-n-finish in their vehicles across the board
Nothing exciting except the Viper program
Engines that were ancient and guzzled fuel like they were sponsored by OPEC
The worst reputation of any "domestic" company in America

After Daimler came along:

New crop of V8 engines for the first time since the 1950s
New crop of multi-speed automatic transmissions that were rock solid dependable
Lots of new models, especially for the Jeep brand
First diesel powered Jeeps in the U.S. that any of us have ever seen
Ram pickups start to sell like hotcakes and begin to take a large bite out of Ford/GM truck sales for first time in history
Return of the Challenger/Charger muscle cars
Wrangler Unlimited is born, which opens the door to guys who always wanted a Jeep Wrangler but couldn't justify it for a family vehicle


Fact is, Daimler was wonderful for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Yes, some horrible things happened to the business side of the relationship, but we wouldn't be sitting here today talking about Jeeps if it wasn't for Daimler.
 

The Great Grape Ape

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I think that link is broken.
This is what he was referring to;

https://www.cars.com/articles/the-carscom-2017-american-made-index-1420695680673/?cmp=sf92552931

http://www.toledoblade.com/business...-Cherokee-top-list-of-nbsp-most-American.html

The Wrangler is the Most 'Murican vehicle out there with the JKU being slightly " more 'Murican " than the JK.

Oh you're right about the JK! Forgot about Daimler-Chrysler.
... OR... the Renault era before that ?? :idea:
 

Eugene the Jeep

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Yup. 74% of the JK Wrangler and 75% of the JKU Wrangler are made of domestic parts. And all of its engines and almost all of its transmissions are built in the US. It doesn't get more American than that!

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Gavin

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Are Wranglers made anywhere else, e.g. For Europe or Africa? I've said no, but someone told me some are made in India?
 

Billy

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NO. Not wranglers.
 

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AM1

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Not me. That was the era that saved Chrysler products.

Before Daimler came along:

Horrible reputation for transmission failures
Terrible fit-n-finish in their vehicles across the board
Nothing exciting except the Viper program
Engines that were ancient and guzzled fuel like they were sponsored by OPEC
The worst reputation of any "domestic" company in America

After Daimler came along:

New crop of V8 engines for the first time since the 1950s
New crop of multi-speed automatic transmissions that were rock solid dependable
Lots of new models, especially for the Jeep brand
First diesel powered Jeeps in the U.S. that any of us have ever seen
Ram pickups start to sell like hotcakes and begin to take a large bite out of Ford/GM truck sales for first time in history
Return of the Challenger/Charger muscle cars
Wrangler Unlimited is born, which opens the door to guys who always wanted a Jeep Wrangler but couldn't justify it for a family vehicle


Fact is, Daimler was wonderful for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. Yes, some horrible things happened to the business side of the relationship, but we wouldn't be sitting here today talking about Jeeps if it wasn't for Daimler.
To be fair here, Daimler-Benz was great for those things, but development of the LX cars began as early as 1997, before the merger. Under Eaton, Chrysler already had commissioned a number of programs for the early 2000s. The merger changed a few of those things around or delayed them a bit (RWD cars), but even the previous generation pickups had been designed by the time in 1998, when both companies aligned. Ditto for the KJ Liberty.

The merger didn't really start to show its effects until the 2003 calendar year, with the Pacifica crossover, second generation Durango, and some mid-cycle updates during 2003-05 to designs approved pre-May 1998 (PL II Neon, RS Minivans, PT Cruiser, Cloud II cars, etc).

The LX cars were great, but most of them had the worst interiors, which weren't really rectified until redesigns during the 2010 and 2011 calendar years, which were stuff approved during around the crisis/bankruptcy period under Cerberus management. In fact by the time DCX had full control over product planning for 4-6 year programs from start to finish (think 1998, then add +4 or +5 years), the end results were often cookie cutter disasters as seen in the mid-2000s.

The DR Ram facelift that arrived in 2005 as an 2006 model had the worst interior and many aspects of cost-cutting. By some kind of miracle, they managed to approve that class-leading DS interior in early 2006 that appeared in the 2009 Ram pickup. Product planning under DCX was questionable at best in many cases.

Even closer to home, updated JK that arrived in 2010, improved leaps and bounds over Fisher Price interiors in the original JK interiors designed back in 2001-2003. All despite development for the updated interior starting in 2008, during a very rough time in Chrysler history. Ryan Nagode who had been responsible the DS Ram and JK II interiors, wouldn't had the same budget a few years earlier.

Most programs that were 50% or more complete at the 1998 merger were either canned out of indifference or had minimal influence from Stuttgart.

Don't get me wrong, as there were many pluses indeed brought to the table by Daimler-Benz.
 
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WebDevDan

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Are Wranglers made anywhere else, e.g. For Europe or Africa? I've said no, but someone told me some are made in India?
Technically not wranglers. The Jeep J8 is the military version and it's licensed by several overseas manufacturers.
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