Jeep Planning Luxury Model Targeting Mercedes SUVs, Range Rover

[Gecko]

Jeep Plans Luxury Model to Target Mercedes SUVs, Range Rover

Jeep is developing a luxury sport utility vehicle to rival the Range Rover.

It’s a bold gambit that will test anew the elasticity of a brand that started life selling army trucks in World War II and has so far managed not to alienate hard-core off-roaders. Based on Range Rover prices, a luxury Jeep could command as much as $100,000 and help shore up margins as parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV spins off money-minting Ferrari SpA.

Fiat Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne mentioned the vehicle while opening an Alfa Romeo and Maserati dealership near Toronto last week. While Jeep’s global sales have soared more than fourfold since 2009, helped by broad demand for SUVs and the popularity of new models, Marchionne said the brand is missing an opportunity.

“When I see a Range Rover on the street, my blood boils, because we should be able to do a thing like that,” he said with characteristic forthrightness. “And we will.”

The priciest Jeep now is the Grand Cherokee, which starts at about $30,000 and can top twice that fully loaded. Jeep has said it will bring back the larger Grand Wagoneer by 2018. A Range Rover rival would sit above that in the lineup, which also includes the entry-level Cherokee and Renegade, both hits with buyers and critics.

Marchionne, who declined to provide specifics about the luxury SUV, said his company didn’t mention the vehicle in a five-year plan laid out last year because he didn’t want to tip his hand too soon.

“Would I tell you that?” he said. “No, but we’re working on it now.”

Maserati Levante
David Kelleher, who owns a Jeep Chrysler dealership near Philadelphia, said he’s been pushing Fiat Chrysler for several years to expand Jeep into the high-end.

“You put Jeep on the front of anything right now and you’re OK,” he said.

Fiat Chrysler rose 1.6 percent to close at $15.04. The shares gained 30 percent this year through Wednesday’s close after gaining 30 percent in 2014.

SUV sales are booming and luxury models account for about half of that market. Still, the new Jeep will face plenty of competition. Fiat Chrysler’s Maserati plans to debut an SUV called Levante next year; Bentley is developing the Bentayga, which it bills as the most luxurious and expensive SUV. Audi plans to roll out a new full-sized sport-utility vehicle, the Q8, by 2020 that will challenge the $63,600 Mercedes-Benz GL and BMW is developing the X7. Jaguar will start selling its first crossover, the mid-sized F-PACE, next year.

Porsche’s Cayenne is its top-selling model this year through April and GM’s Escalade and Ford’s Lincoln Navigator are their brand’s fastest-gaining vehicles this year.

Jack Nerad, an analyst at KBB.com, said an expensive, luxury Jeep may take Americans by surprise.

Unique Brand
“But Jeep is unique,” he said. “There’s really no substitute for it in the market and that puts them in a pretty good position. There’s a lot of opportunity there.”

A luxury Jeep may do well overseas too, Nerad said.

Jeep is expanding production outside North America, adding lines in China, Italy and Brazil, to push the brand’s sales to 1.9 million cars in 2018 from a record of more than 1 million last year. It’s also increasing its dealerships in China by about a third this year and plans to start to build its Cherokee in November followed by the Renegade next year in 2016.

“In some markets, they know about Jeep, but they don’t know what the product line entails,” Nerad said. “In China, other parts of Asia and Europe, there’s an opportunity to do a high-end Jeep. I really think that’s a possibility.”

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-range-rover?et_cid=72693826&et_rid=151404347

 

[mmcartalk]

Wouldn't it make more sense to do something like this under the Chrysler nameplate, which is already an upmarket brand? It's difficult to imagine a 100K Jeep, even for those who own and drive the best Grand Cherokee models.

In fact, it would kill two birds with one stone. It would also give Chrysler something to put up against Cadillac's Escalade and Lincoln's Navigator, something that Chrysler currently lacks.

Interesting thread, though.

 

[Och]

If Jeep/Chrysler ever did something that was on par with RR - that would be offroad prowess and lack of reliability.

That's why God created Toyota Landcruiser.

 

[Gecko]

I think the Jeep brand is the right call for a model like this, and while I never thought about it before, I do think there's enough cachet to launch a Range Rover fighter. Off road brands like Jeep and Land Rover, and even Toyota's 4x4 models, enjoy a special status that seems to superscede the more plebeian models under the same badge.

IMO, Chrysler would not be the right brand to host a vehicle like this. The brand has struggled too much and changed direction repeatedly over the last ten years. Ask the general public if they'd rather have a Jeep or a Chrysler SUV and 10/10 will tell you, "Jeep."

 

[mmcartalk]

IMO, Chrysler would not be the right brand to host a vehicle like this. The brand has struggled too much and changed direction repeatedly over the last ten years. Ask the general public if they'd rather have a Jeep or a Chrysler SUV and 10/10 will tell you, "Jeep."

I understand your point here, but I think the main question is : Ask the public if they would rather have a $100,000 Jeep or a Chrysler SUV, and I'd bet that many would be aghast at the idea of a 100K Jeep.....and, to be honest, it might (?) even be pushing the envelope for a Chrysler-brand. It would be like VW trying to sell the 90K Phaeton W12 in the U.S...it just didn't work. Hyundai and Kia are even having trouble selling 60K Equus and K900 models.....not that there is anything wrong with them (both, IMO, are excellent, refined highway cruisers, and a pleasure to drive). But the public just seems to have trouble accepting a Korean luxury car in that price range.

 

[Och]

Jeep already tried to make a model above GC - it was the Commander, a lousy heap of junk much like any other jeep/chrysler product.

 

[mmcartalk]

Jeep already tried to make a model above GC - it was the Commander, a lousy heap of junk much like any other jeep/chrysler product.

The latest model Grand Cherokee is far from a "heap of junk". It is smooth, quiet, refined, well-trimmed inside, with good fit/finish and a responsive drivetrain.....a real pleasure to drive. It was (and is), in many ways better than the Commander was, though they are still working on some reliability problems. I grant you, though, it's not worth 100K....and the Commander sure wasn't.

 

[Och]

The latest model Grand Cherokee is far from a "heap of junk". It is smooth, quiet, refined, well-trimmed inside, with good fit/finish and a responsive drivetrain.....a real pleasure to drive. It was (and is), in many ways better than the Commander was, though they are still working on some reliability problems. I grant you, though, it's not worth 100K....and the Commander sure wasn't.

I know the current GC is a big improvement on the last gen model, but Jeep/Chrysler brand has such a horrible track record of building junk, that I personally have zero interest in their products, no matter how much they've improved.

 

[CIF]

Yes, this certainly is interesting, but I'm not sure how well this would do in the market. This is clearly a Fiat sort of move though.

 

[mikeavelli]

Jeep figured out what I was shocked Isuzu didn't...make a full line SUV brand, screw cars. All the data has showed that the growth is with SUVs...Jeep has a huge lineup now and the GC gets luxury car buyers. The SRT8 is amazing!

Great move by Jeep, but I hope its far better executed than the Commander or whatever it was from a few years ago.

 

[mmcartalk]

Jeep figured out what I was shocked Isuzu didn't...make a full line SUV brand, screw cars. All the data has showed that the growth is with SUVs...Jeep has a huge lineup now and the GC gets luxury car buyers. The SRT8 is amazing!

Great move by Jeep, but I hope its far better executed than the Commander or whatever it was from a few years ago.

I agree that the Commander was a flop (I reviewed and test drove one, but I don't remember if I ever wrote it up). But, remember, it was designed back in the bad old Chrysler days, before the buyout/reorganization, which vastly improved a number of their products.

As for Isuzu and its SUV line up, back in the 1990s, Isuzu did have several of their own designs. They also entered into a major product-sharing partnership with Honda/Acura. Isuzu had previously marketed the crude and unsuccessful I-Mark compact sedan in the U.S., then withdrew it because of poor sales. By agreement, Honda built a number of rebadged Civics for Isuzu to sell in the home Japanese market and other countries as the new I-Mark (which did not come to the U.S.). In return, Honda, which had no SUVs of their own at the time (the CR-V and Pilot had not been developed yet), got the Isuzu-designed Rodeo, a mid-size body-on-frame SUV, as the Honda Passport, and Acura got the Isuzu-designed, body-on-frame, full-size Trooper SUV as the Acura SLX (which Consumer Reports flunked in the handling/rollover tests). Isuzu also sold the Rodeo and Trooper here in the U.S. under its own nameplate. The small Isuzu-designed body-on-frame Amigo SUV (also sold here) was not shared with Honda.

Later, of course, Isuzu sales floundered badly (you and I, of course, had several conversations guessing how long they would last in the American market). They ended up with only two American-market vehicles, neither of their own design.......the Ascender, a rebadged/decontented body-on-frame Chevy TrailBlazer, and the I-Series mid-size pickup...a rebadge of the awful (and I mean awful) 1Gen Chevy/GMC Colorado/Canyon.

 

[CIF]

On the topic of the 1st gen Colorado/Canyon, it fascinates me how many I continue to see on the roads, and how owners seem to be very loyal to those trucks, despite how awful they really are. It's similar to the 2nd generation Ford Ranger; it was on sale in North America for ages, and was an outdated and ancient truck in many ways, with a lot of awful problems due to how incredibly old and outdated it was. Yet despite this, the truck had a loyal following for a long time, and still does with existing owners.

 

[mmcartalk]

On the topic of the 1st gen Colorado/Canyon, it fascinates me how many I continue to see on the roads, and how owners seem to be very loyal to those trucks, despite how awful they really are. It's similar to the 2nd generation Ford Ranger; it was on sale in North America for ages, and was an outdated and ancient truck in many ways, with a lot of awful problems due to how incredibly old and outdated it was. Yet despite this, the truck had a loyal following for a long time, and still does with existing owners.

I haven't seen a lot of privately-owned ones. Most of the ones I've seen lately belong to utility or public-works organizations who probably bought them up cheap originally and are still too cheap to replace them.

I did a review on the new 2Gen versions, BTW, here in the garage Forum.........I think you've already seen it.