Which car company will own jeep next?

[Nate]

That said, the rumored truck is said to be a Ridgeline competitor, and would be a unibody design based on the Atlas. Link posted over on the Scrambler forums said that it may be a surprise reveal at NY.

The Ridgeline is an abomination.... I honestly don’t see how it sells to anyone with a pulse.

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[kingdog23]

The Ridgeline is an abomination.... I honestly don’t see how it sells to anyone with a pulse.

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I bought a used Ridgeline a couple years ago and call it my four door El Camino. I wish it was that cool. Hahaha! It has served its purpose, but I won't be getting another. CR loves them and hates Jeeps. IMO, the new Wrangler accelerates much better, has similar road manners, gets better gas mileage and you can actually take it off pavement and beat it. CR has their heads up their asses.

 

[xray]

For Jeep alone, yeah, very limited upside, although they could bring back The VW THING
I was thinking more beyond Jeep as the purchase, because as mentioned before there is likely no way in hell FCA sells just Jeep. So looking at FCA’s old Chrysler assets, then there is a lot of upside for VAG, where they add a truck division, return to the MiniVans (like when the Routtan which was just a rebadged Caravan) and their muscley N.Am. cars, then VW fills FCA’s small-midsized gigantic hole in their car lineup.

So from a ‘more than just Jeep’ pruchase it makes sense, if buying only Jeep, then it makes sense for a lot more companies and less for VW, but that’s less likely to happen IMO, and Sergio has stated as much.

Edit: Also might be some VW opportunities with the Promaster/RAM side of FCA offering them a better access in N.Am. for their Euro commercial options,

VW is a poor fit. They just expanded their line-up to be mostly various sizes of crossovers and SUVs such as the Atlas, Tiguan, Baby Tiguan, and the new Touareg. Discounting the Wrangler, that's basically all overlap. Even their own lines overlap each other.
The exterior aesthetic for a VW is quite different as well.

It would be a crazy premium for VW to buy Jeep, unless it's actually for a different reason: RAM and the Minivan segment. I think the truck arena is more appealing for a buy, and FCA possibly might be convinced to sell just that piece, although good luck getting a diesel after the dieselgate.

 

[The Great Grape Ape]

VW is a poor fit. They just expanded their line-up to be mostly various sizes of crossovers and SUVs such as the Atlas, Tiguan, Baby Tiguan, and the new Touareg. Discounting the Wrangler, that's basically all overlap. Even their own lines overlap each other.

That was the whole point of ‘more than Just Jeep’ point about VAG, and that Jeep alone makes less sense, and would likely weaken the independence of the GC etc because of that previously mentioned Allsport/Q3/Macan , Touareg/Q5/Cayenne. BTW Jeep doesn’t have an Atlas/Q7 equivalent yet, that’s still the Dodge Durango for FCA, until a Wagoneer arrives.

The exterior aesthetic for a VW is quite different as well.

So is the exterior aesthetic of Lambo and Seat, so was the extrior of Skoda before VW put their influence into it. However, the VW plasticky interior aesthetic is Very Jeep/FCA.

It would be a crazy premium for VW to buy Jeep,

Yeah, that’s why i said : “Only a fool would pay top dollar for a brand that’s in a segment that they too also compete in at the top”. They need areas they can leverage, for VW that’s pretty much everything else.

Also as mentioned many times before, the discusssion of ‘Just Jeep’ is kinda pointless, as anything but a package deal has been taken off the table for FCA. “The answer is ‘no,’ we’re not going to break up anything,” Marchionne said.

 

[LeaN69]

If VW wasn't in the hole $1/4 billion from diesel troubles, they might have. VW is already worlds largest auto manufacturer and they do a pretty good job keeping Porsche (911) true to its roots.

 

[Harleydz]

What about Tata? They own Jaguar and Range Rover. And others.

 

[JeepDrvr2018]

First, I have not read any reliable sources saying "Jeep" is up for sale. Second-if it is sold, the wrangler is DOA. Why, first every serious 4x4 vehicle on the market, except JL/JK etc., and all of the AWD ones are unibody. This design does not lend itself to strong framing/body's for any serious 4x4 at all. As the JL gets a tad better mileage figure, it still is heavy, and not designed as a fuel efficient vehicle. It's designed for one thing and one thing only, 4x4 use. If, and I use that word lightly, Jeep is for sale, and goes up, the only serious purchaser should be ford, as I think they would keep the wrangler alive, all the other vehicles in the lineup would be done, as none of them do homage to the Ford plan.

I drove the new JL, in the Sahara and Rubicon versions, aside from the tires on the R, they both handled about the same. It seems to have more power, but I was not impressed with the Automatic Transmission, as I don't care for an auto. I have not decided to trade in my 2013 Sahara and get the new JL, because the dealers want to kill me on my trade. There is the Pumpkin color at Jackie Jones Jeep in Hayesville, NC store, it's got a lot more red it in than my 2013 Crush color. I would like to see the new Mojito color, which is one of two colors I would get, preferably a desert tan like color as my second choice, I don't like any of the other colors enough to trade mine in.

Someone mentioned Tesla, not in my kingdom would they be allowed to by a tricycle factory. They have never made a profit, cannot meet even the lightest production goals, and their debt load is so bad, their continued to try making payroll and continuing production past the end of summer is in doubt. The wall Street Journal has had several long articles about them, and they are a whiskers breath from being out of business. Musk is sleeping at the factory again, which does not bode well for them either as reported on Bloomberg's web site The person may have been making a joke, since Sunday was April Fools day.

 

[kingdog23]

That was the whole point of ‘more than Just Jeep’ point about VAG, and that Jeep alone makes less sense, and would likely weaken the independence of the GC etc because of that previously mentioned Allsport/Q3/Macan , Touareg/Q5/Cayenne. BTW Jeep doesn’t have an Atlas/Q7 equivalent yet, that’s still the Dodge Durango for FCA, until a Wagoneer arrives.



So is the exterior aesthetic of Lambo and Seat, so was the extrior of Skoda before VW put their influence into it. However, the VW plasticky interior aesthetic is Very Jeep/FCA.



Yeah, that’s why i said : “Only a fool would pay top dollar for a brand that’s in a segment that they too also compete in at the top”. They need areas they can leverage, for VW that’s pretty much everything else.

Also as mentioned many times before, the discusssion of ‘Just Jeep’ is kinda pointless, as anything but a package deal has been taken off the table for FCA. “The answer is ‘no,’ we’re not going to break up anything,” Marchionne said.

Good points...VW has the Atlas and the GC is a far superior vehicle, unless you need an expensive, boring AWD 7-seat station wagon; I've driven both and there is no comparison. Nothing comes close to the JL Wrangler, the 300 is solid, Mopar, HEMI, etc. Oh yeah, and the upgraded Cherokee is a damn good vehicle about to get the 2.0 Hurricane.

 

[BillArnett]

(I should say how's about) Tesla???---they do things right---know how to take care of customers...

not that I think Tesla would buy them....

Right. An electric off-reader would be very interesting. But Tesla wanted to make an off-road vehicle they certainly wouldn’t want to start with an ancient design like the Wrangler. There are vague musings coming from Tesla about a pickup truck sometime in the future. That sounds pretty easy compared to what they’ve done so far. And turning it into a really good off-road capable truck wouldn’t be a very big step from there. If they were serious about that it would be very bad news for Jeep: It’s a lot easier to build an off-roader using an existing electric drive train than it is to electrify a Jeep.

 

[automaton]

I could see a company like AM General or another similar defense contractor or service vehicle constructor buying the Chrysler portfolio to get a leg into the civilian market. I think a company like that could benefit from Jeeps reputation and maybe even slot a vehicle from their service contracts into the lineup as a more offroad oriented model than even the mighty Wrangler.

Otherwise, I assume an Indian or Chinese company will snap the whole kit up to have a built in dealer network and gradually slide their products into the lineup, and that would make me kind of sad. Maybe Tata would pick it up. They haven't been poor stewards of the orphan brands they bought.

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