It wasn't so long ago that Jeep just had three models: Wrangler, Liberty, and Grand Cherokee. Now, in just over a year, there'll be seven of them: Wrangler, Compass, Patriot, Wrangler Unlimited four-door, Liberty, Grand Cherokee, and Commander. (If we count the Grand Cherokee SRT8 as a separate Jeep because of its stunning performance-biased personality, that makes eight). This type of brand expansion is unprecedented, especially considering it includes a vehicle so un-Jeeplike (on the surface, at least) it doesn't make sense.
For all practical purposes, the entry-level compact Jeep Compass is a car with a seven-slotted grille and round headlights. Most people understand what Jeep is about (especially the hard-cores), just as they understand Porsche, John Deere, or Land Rover. Whether new--presumably young--buyers are looking for a vehicle that allows them entry into the Jeep lifestyle without becoming part of the dirty-fingernail crowd remains to be seen. But this move may be a lot smarter than it first appears.
Jeep Gladiator Concept
I vividly remember my first meeting (more than a decade ago) with a new Jeep marketing head who spoke eloquently about what Jeep meant to its buyers and what it could mean in the future. I came away thinking I'd just met the man who was going to bury one of America's most beloved brands. I felt driven to warn them about the inevitable terrible mistakes. Fortunately, I kept my feelings to myself, though I did pay attention to what was happening in the market. Makers like Volvo, Porsche, BMW, Honda, and others were investing vast amounts of money in new segments, namely SUVs, with huge success. Stretching their own definitions and reaching a new set of buyers brought in big money. In fact, in Porsche's case, it saved the company from being sold to a larger automaker or going bankrupt. Things were changing, and to its credit, Jeep wasn't just going to sit around and watch.
The first shot fired was the new Liberty, which replaced the old-school Cherokee. The Liberty was much friendlier to women and allowed Jeep to present a softer, puffier side to its masculine image. Next came the Grand Cherokee SRT8, a lowered, all-wheel-drive, 415 horse street rocket with enough power and muscle to wake the dead. Then came the Jeep Commander--a seven-passenger SUV that used some of the same styling cues (flat sides and a square look) from the boxy Jeep Cherokee replaced several years earlier, as if the styling engineers were saying, "Don't worry, Jeep guys, we're still here." And sharing its platform with the Grand Cherokee meant plenty of cost savings.
Jeep Rescue Cummins
But my cynical side still thinks Jeep may have overreached with its next venture. Taking platform sharing to new heights, the slow-selling Neon was replaced with a new platform that would be the basis of an entirely new vehicle for Dodge: the Caliber. More wagonlike economy car than anything else, the Caliber platform also is the foundation for two new Jeeps coming to market at the same time. Jeep insiders tell us they were looking to develop one entry-level vehicle, but when testing several different ideas with customers and in-market buyers in clinics, two designs kept ranking ahead of all other options--one a rally-inspired car, and the other a more traditional-looking little Jeep. While the Patriot should be the runaway sales hit, the Compass is likely the tough sell. However, the people interested in the Compass will be exactly the type of new image-conscious buyers Jeep is looking to introduce to the brand for the first time--for around $16,000. With all the platform and technology cost spread over several DaimlerChrysler vehicles, even if the Compass is a volume blunder, Jeep would do well to consider the venture a huge success in attracting the finicky youth buyer to the Jeep brand.
Jeep Dakar Concept
We've never liked the Compass in theory, but if that's what we have to put up with to get things like the Rescue, Gladiator, and Dakar (just to name a few exploration concepts still in review), it may be a small price to pay. Certainly, these small vehicles, with their tremendous Corporate Average Fuel Economy implications, could help get a Cummins in a Jeep at some point. That's what we're waiting for. If we can "tolerate" a 6.1 liter Hemi Jeep (that doesn't have low range) that can do 0-to-60 in four seconds, certainly we should be able to get a Jeep with 650 pound-feet of torque and 32 inch tires. And is there any reason we can't have cylinder deactivation in a diesel? We just drove a Durango 1400 miles and averaged 17 mpg, with our best highway cruising tank calculated at 19.6 mpg--fully loaded with four adults and luggage for a week of travel. Those are real-world numbers. Not bad for a 5000-pound SUV with another 1000 pounds of cargo and a V 8. If these are the results we can get from the Hemi's cylinder shutoff, and Jeep can more than double the number of models it sells in just over a year, we may have to start being optimistic. Maybe there is hope.