It’s a weird time for Jeep, who recently launched a ~$65,000 SUV that can only drive ~230 miles on a charge. The Wagoneer (the Grand one, the regular one, and the electric one) has been a bit of a dud, the Wrangler is so old now that it finally has a viable competitor in the Ford Bronco, the Gladiator ain’t selling without a big check on the hood, the Cherokee just returned after inexplicably leaving the most important market segment on earth, and wait…they still make the Compass? Jeep’s annual sales have been in freefall; here’s what the brand is doing to fix them, and here’s what I would do.
Last year I started writing a fun story about how I’d fix Jeep, but that languished in my drafts folder. Now there’s a new Jeep out, and I’m going to use that as a newspeg to present those fun ideas.
The newspeg: Jeep has “dropped” a new “JL-2A” Wrangler, which is the latest in the brand’s fun “12-for-12” lineup of 12 new Jeep Wrangler buzz-models “dropping” in 12 months. The JL name refers to the current Wrangler’s model code, while “-2A” is an homage to the first-ever Civilian Jeep, the CJ-2A. Jeep has been having fun with hits 12-for-12 vehicles, and the JL-2A is probably my favorite of the bunch. Check it out:
What’s especially great about this video is that among the AI-looking animations is my good friend Brandon driving one of the first CJ-2As ever built, a 1945 column shift vehicle, right near his property in rural Michigan. Brandon restored a 1946 CJ-2A back when he was 16; he’s as legit as they come, so to Jeep not only putting him in leadership positions at the company but also leveraging his expertise in commercials is just downright cool.
Also, the JL-2A is cool. 
Not only does it offer unique colors and unique wheels, but it also comes with an amazing brown interior. And not just brown seats, I mean a brown dash and brown doorcards; it’s a true, unique interior color option, like in the good ol’ days:
Per Jeep’s press release, the option costs $4,995. Given that the JL-2A is built on a Wrangler Rubicon (i.e. it has lockers front and rear, 4.10 axles, and a 4:10 transfer case low-range ratio), that means you get these cool looks and that sweet interior for just a few hundred bucks more than a Wrangler Rubicon equipped with similar options.
Honestly, Jeep has been crushing it with its 12-for-12 Wranglers. I recently went off-roading with my friends at the YouTube channel TFL, and they were in the Wrangler Willys 392 — a cheap (ish) way of getting a V8 in your Jeep Wrangler (it starts around $70 grand). It was epic.
Jeep’s comeback plan looks like a fun one that includes a new vehicle called the Jeep Scrambler. Per The Drive:
The Scrambler is a two-door Gladiator-based pickup truck. There are four seats and the doors will be slightly longer to enable easier access to those rear seats. There’s also a side step so you can just hop on in to those rear seats.
I say hop on in, because like the K5 Chevrolet Blazer, the hardtop is going to be removable on the rear end. The front hard top panels? They are “freedom panels” from the Wrangler and they pop off with a few twists of some latches. Even wilder is the fact that the second row of seats will be able to be (somehow, it’s unclear at the exact moment) turned around. So those seated in the rear can be facing backwards with the roof off, jump seat style.
[…]
The front end has a shark nose design and the top edge of the hood cants foward. The headlights are squarish.
From what I’ve read, this may be Jeep’s halo model, with a Hemi-powered SRT model being the desert-bashing Jeep of your dreams. It sounds awesome. Between this, the 12-for-12 Wranglers, the new Recon expected to get an ICE powertrain, newly adjusted pricing, revised naming for the Wagoneer, and the hybrid Cherokee, Jeep has been making some smart moves.
But let’s talk about some left-field moves I’d like to see as part of a Jeep comeback.
My Jeep Comeback Plan
First, let me say that this is a fun, rather pie-in-the-sky plan, and not one based on deep market research. That doesn’t mean it won’t work; the brilliant men and women working as executives and product planners for Jeep are looking all all the numbers, and they haven’t been able to make it work. So I’m going to shoot from the hip some wacky and some sensible ideas to try to get Jeep out of its hole.
And my god is it in a hole. Just look at the sales since the revised “JL” Wrangler debuted in 2018:
For a while it was a freefall; still better than any time before 2014, but six consecutive years of annual sales decreases qualifies as a freefall, even if 2025 narrowly beat out 2024 (2026 is year-to-date as ~the middle of the year). And while Jeep is in the middle of a comeback plan, allow me to present mine, starting with the wackiest idea.
Offer A Side-By-Side And A Tiny 4×4 SUV
Recently, while walking around SEMA in Las Vegas, I saw Toyota’s new “Scion” side-by-side (see above), a UTV concept that looked remarkably ready for production. At that same show, I saw the Mahindra Roxor, an India-designed, USA-built side-by-side that is literally based on an old Willys Jeep, and that even has a number of interchangeable parts.
I even saw a Vanderhall Brawley electric UTV, whose front-end design is clearly cribbed from Jeep:
Jeep has not only been beaten to the side-by-side punch by a foreign company building Jeep’s own vehicle, but its design is being cribbed and it appears that Jeep is also about to be gapped by the slowest-to-market company there is, Toyota.
How the hell does this make any sense? Seriously, why would you ever want someone to have to look beyond your brand’s offerings to get an off-road vehicle? You gotta keep folks “in the Jeep family.”
To be clear, I realize there are some brilliant folks at Stellantis who likely peeked at this, but then again, having worked there, I wouldn’t be surprised if this didn’t get the full deep-dive it deserved. Thanks to growth in recreational usage and growth in areas outside of recreation — things like military and agriculture applications — the UTV space is a rapidly growing one, with market research and consulting company KBV research saying “The Global ATV and UTV Market size is expected to reach $17.6 billion by 2030, rising at a market growth of 7.6% CAGR during the forecast period.” From KBV:
Research and Markets has that figure at $14.41 billion, though by 2033 they say the market should be around $16 billion. That’s healthy; it’s hundreds of thousands of UTVs sold each year.
The marketing/brand-building aspect of this could be interesting. If Jeep can show that its a world-expert when it comes to off-road vehicle technology, with its brand on the best UTVs money can buy, that can only help get Jeep back into the hearts and minds of the American public.
Or maybe the side-by-side doesn’t have to be state-of-the-art; just offer something. I’d love to see Jeep get back to its roots, and Jeep’s roots involve offering true off-road capability to the masses (in the 1990s, you could get a base Wrangler for the equivalent of about $28 grand; today’s base Wrangler starts around $37 grand). Especially with today’s affordability crisis, a vehicle like a Jimny would really hit the spot, and if Jeep could build such a vehicle on the same platform as an affordable UTV/side-by-side, that could help make the dollars and cents work out.
Enough of the ridiculously soft Jeep Compass/Patriot, which blend in with all the other boring crossovers but lack the quality/reliability of others in the segment. Think outside the box by offering a box like this:
Never, Ever Leave A Hole In The Midsize Crossover Space
This one is obvious, but it remains one of the biggest blunders in recent Stellantis/FCA/Chrysler history: The death of the KL Jeep Cherokee without a replacement ready to go.
This segment is the biggest on earth, with a guaranteed couple hundred thousand annual sales just by trying. The participation trophy in the midsize crossover segment is a Fabergé egg, and Jeep just decided not to even play along for two model-years. There is no 2024 or 2025 Jeep Cherokee. How this was allowed to happen I don’t know, but dealers were pissed, people inside Stellantis were pissed, and customers were pissed but only until they got to the front of the RAV4 waiting list, at which point they’ve been very happy with their reliable, high-resale-value SUV.
This can’t happen again. Ever.
Beating Japan Could Mean Joining Them, Offering Huge Conquest Incentives, Bolder Styling
The best selling car in the U.S. is the midsize SUV, and right now Jeep has the Compass and Cherokee. They’re OK, but they’re getting absolutely wiped by offerings from Toyota and Honda. This isn’t going to change through conventional means; competing with Japan in the crossover segment is hard.
I’ve got a few wacky ideas on this front. First, how about a massive incentive for former Toyota Rav4/Honda CR-V owners? If someone comes in with a 20 year old or newer RAV4 or CR-V, they get a humongous rebate — one that makes the deal impossible to pass up.
Pretty much anytime Jeep launches a new small SUV, the same thing happens: People get excited for it, and Jeep gets a few sales by leaning heavily on the vehicle’s Jeepness (not on its performance or quality), and as the vehicle gets older, more and more money gets thrown on the hood to keep sales going. Meanwhile, Toyota just cleans up year after year, usually with small, sensible updates, and maybe a new powertrain every now and again. Toyota can do this because its built a rapport, winning all sorts of quality/reliability/resale awards. These are important areas to consumers.
Consistency is key, and with all the starting and stopping, and all the quality woes, Jeep is basically decades behind when it comes to building the reputation RAV4/CR-V owners buy into. This is a huge barrier to entry for someone wanting to actually compete with the top-dogs, and there are a few ways to try to fix this. There’s the aforementioned incentives to try to get folks to give up their Toyotas and join into the Jeep family, and then there’s consistent execution. That ownership experience has to be excellent. Then when the next generation comes out, that one has to be equally as excellent. Then when the following generation hits the market, it has to kick butt, and on and on.
A crazy idea would be to partner with a Japanese brand like, say, Mazda or Subaru, and making it clear to buyers that there are Japanese bones under the sheetmetal:
And though those fine renderings from The Bishop above get the point across, I’d like to see bolder styling. The way I see it, there really are three ways to compete with the big-dogs in the biggest car segment in the world:
- Compete on quality and efficiency (maybe partner with a Japanese company; market the shit of this if you do)
- Beat them in price (by a lot)
- Offer something significantly cooler
I think number 3 is what Ford is doing with the Bronco Sport. The Escape is dead, presumably because it just didn’t offer the quality, the price delta, or the “cool factor” needed to win folks over from Toyota/Honda. The Bronco Sport at least offers the latter. It’s cool.
And for Jeep, I think the answer could be all of these. Offer huge incentives to get people out of their sensible Japanese SUVs, make sure your product is rock-solid reliability-wise so that customer comes back, maybe share platforms with a Japanese automaker, and just make sure the car looks cool and stands out among all the jellybean-like crossovers out there.
I will say that the new Jeep Cherokee looks like a step in the right direction, offering only a hybrid powertrain that gets solid fuel economy. But getting people to give Jeep a shot, and maintaining consistent reliability — those are the keys to long-term success.
The Gladiator On A Ram IFS Platform, A Ford Maverick-Fighter (Or Maybe Jeep Should Get Out Of Trucks)
The Jeep Gladiator being based on the Wrangler is a humongous compromise. I wrote about this a few years ago, but the short of it is: Using the Wrangler platform not only necessitated styling compromises (look at that rear door), but also significant off-road compromises. The truck’s absurd length is a result of using the Wrangler’s front end (plus adding a 5-foot bed), and that length really reduces off-road capability to the point where, in stock form, the solid axle is simply a liability.
Yes, the solid front axle makes it easier to install a much-needed lift kit, which is valuable. But as for the solid axle’s added articulation, it is really not that useful because before articulation really comes into play, the truck’s belly/rear end are dragging on the rocks. So the Gladiator makes significantly ride/handling/efficiency (a solid axle is bad for aero and it makes installing an EPS rack difficult) compromises, but it doesn’t get one of the main benefits of the solid axle: flex.
Get rid of it. Big trucks don’t need solid front axles, which is why the rock crawling performance of a Ranger Raptor and Colorado ZR2 is basically the same as that of the Gladiator (and the high-speed desert running performance of those trucks is significantly better).
Build a midsize Ram truck, and offer a Jeep variant. Don’t adapt an SUV platform, build a truck from the ground up so it doesn’t have to make so many compromises. The Ram version can be more powerful and maybe tow more, while the Jeep version can have the softer, flexier springs, higher ride height, and knobbier all-terrains.
I won’t expound further into details, but to me, a Ram midsizer makes sense, and a Wrangler-based pickup just doesn’t.
Switching gears, the Ford Maverick is a great way for someone to own a cool vehicle without having to make huge compromises. It’s a stylish little pickup that offers excellent fuel economy and utility at a great price. It’s awesome, and I’d love to see a Jeep version, perhaps built on a midsize unibody SUV platform. There is part of me that thinks Jeep should get out of the pickup truck business altogether, and that this should just be a Ram. Maybe that’s the case, and maybe the Gladiator should just bow out after the model-year.
Jeep’s Three-Row Should Be Cheap, Hybrid
I’m not convinced the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer were the right calls. When they launched, I wrote “The New Jeep Grand Wagoneer Isn’t Beautiful Enough For Its Name,” because it was an expensive SUV that really didn’t seem to set itself apart from the competition. The styling was bland, the price wasn’t that much cheaper than anyone else, and then the quality concerns started stacking up. “Jeep Wagoneer Sales Are Nosediving. Is It Too Late To Save It?” wrote The Drive last summer.
Jeep has since killed off the Wagoneer and cut the Grand Wagoneer’s base price by $20,000, per Cars.com. This fixes the naming confusion (apparently people though the Grand Wagoneer was bigger than the Wagoneer, when it was really just fancier). But I still think a $65,000 Jeep isn’t the answer Jeep needs right now. I’d like to see a Kia Telluride competitor.
Jeep currently offers the Grand Cherokee L, which starts around $60,000. Meanwhile you can buy this 8-passenger Telluride for $38,000:
I’d love to see a new boxy Commander that competes with the Telluride on price.
Grand Cherokee Should Be The Flagship, Offer Three Powertrain Options
I really don’t know that Jeep should try to compete with Cadillac, which is why I’d probably just nix the Wagoneer and make the Grand Cherokee the flagship once again. As for electric offerings, I fear the Wagoneer EV and the new 2026 Jeep Recon EV are going to be huge money-losers.
But I do think Jeep should keep some toes in the EV space, because EV demand is only going up internationally, and eventually demand in the U.S. will make not having an EV a huge mistake. I recently wrote “Why All Electric Car Companies Including Tesla, Rivian And Lucid Should Start Offering Gas Range Extenders.” And I think that’s the direction Jeep should go with the Grand Cherokee (perhaps they’d use the Recon platform).
The base model should have a 55 kWh battery and a small gas generator (it should be a Scout with a Jeep badge, basically). It’ll go 120 or so miles per charge, and when you run out, it’ll just run on the gas generator. Offer a 120 kWh model just to have a BEV in the plan.
I was going to stop here, but looking at Grand Cherokee sales — a quarter million annually — I think it’d be foolish to stray away from traditional ICE powertrains entirely. For this reason, I think there should be some kind of high-performance hybrid powertrain as well.
Offer A 4×4 Camper Van
One thing I find surprising is just how viral “van life” has been for many years, and yet no major OEM offers a truly worthy “van life” machine. Far too many people are adapting cargo vans to be their adventuremobiles, but I think it’s time for a change.
Off-road icon Fred Williams one wrote for us “Jeep Needs To Build An Off-Road Van And Here’s How They Should Do It.” You should check that out, because Fred is right.
The Styling Has To Look ‘Jeep’
One thing I frequently ask myself is: Why do Rivians and Suzuki Jimnys look more like Jeeps than Jeeps?
This is an area in which Jeep needs to remain consistent. Every Jeep should look like one; at the very least, the design should remain boxy to the point where you look at a Jeep and know it’s part of the family. That hasn’t been the case for numerous Jeeps over the years (like the Compass, Wagoneer S and Cherokee), and it’s just not great for a brand.
The Next Wrangler Should Offer A ‘Wrangler Classic’ And An EREV Monster
I can’t tell you exactly what Jeep should do with the next Wrangler. That’s the $1 billion question. Should it remain a gas-only vehicle? Should it go hybrid? Should there be an EV version? How do you hedge bets so you remain strong regardless of who’s in the White House?
I say keep the current JL platform a bit longer, and offer it as a Wrangler Classic; maybe add a hybrid powertrain. Then take that Recon platform, adapt it into something that can be fully convertible and outfitted as either a BEV or EREV, do what Scout is doing with its solid rear e-axle, and basically make a badass, range-extended Rivian/Scout competitor, but with a convertible top.
All these Jeeps that “need” the 70 year old grill for it to be Jeep-like. Does that actually look good? I think all the attempts over the years to make these look like the original Jeep, don’t actually look very good. My time in a YJ convinced me I’d never buy one to do any regular driving in, my spine was bolted to the frame.
Really they should just stop building overpriced garbage. I’m the owner of a 2021 GC 5.7. It’s the worst built vehicle I’ve ever owned, by a pretty long shot (and this includes a B6 Audi). The fact that this was a “mature” WK2 platform with “proven” components by 2021 makes it even worse. In 60k miles, I’ve had the uconnect screen delaminate (very common, mfg won’t cover), the rear defrost not work, the sunroof randomly refusing to index and close, and most recently, the drivetrain control module crapped (common, on backorder from the dealer) rendering an inop 4wd. I’ve got a nice tick on cold starts too, despite religiously changing oil. Seems 2019-2021 are back with the class action Hemi tick lawsuits. For a $65-70k vehicle this is horrendous.
But the SM is more than happy to sell me new tires because my K02s are loud on the highway, and show me the line of 4xe GCs that have been on their lot for 2 years.
First and last Jeep. Let them stew in their own shittiness until the brand burns to the ground.
Meh. Chrysler products have just had a horrid up/down cycle over the last thirty years. 1990-2005: Good Jeeps. 2006-2011: Bad Jeeps. 2012-2018: Good Jeeps. 2019-Present: Bad Jeeps
The WK2, it’s a quandary to me. Great on a test drive, solid feel, good road manners for a porker, nice interior materials. Depreciated like German cars, apparently because they also age like German cars.
Know someone with a 2020 GC withe the Pentastar. Engine block cracked at 105k. Dealer was unsurprised, guess he’s seen a number of those. Replacement would cost nearly what the car is worth. He was a Jeep guy. He’s not anymore. Looking at Toyota. I would tell him that he’s a generation late on that being a sure bet, but no one takes my car advice so we’ll see how that goes.
Its quite comfortable on the highway, I have the Trailhawk which has the SRT seats — if it weren’t terribly built, I’d be pretty happy, or at least satisfied with my purchase. Right now its paid off and I don’t want to trade laterally, so I’m just going to limp it along for a while.
How many miles on those K02s? I’ve noticed they start getting louder around the 50k miles mark. I usually try to rotate mine every oil change, but did skip a few. Didn’t rotate them for around 15k miles and they got pretty loud. Finally replaced them after about 85k, went with the K03s and am back to nice and quiet.
About 45k, they’re definitely loud, just by nature of what they are vs. a stock tire and getting a bit worn too. I wouldn’t have minded about the SM if he had also acknowledged recognized the typical Hemi tick. He didn’t want to deal with it and hail mary-d the tire upsell. Shitty experience.
“If someone comes in with a 20 year old or newer RAV4 or CR-V, they get a humongous rebate — one that makes the deal impossible to pass up.”
Can you imagine the disappointment of getting a 20 year newer Jeep then after 3 months longing for the 08 RAV4.
Also, they need to not make terrible vehicles. Test drove a new Wrangler then a year old Bronco, and to say the Wrangler was miles behind in every metric, except price, is an understatement.
Can’t think of any reason to save Jeep.
To understand why Jeep is in this situation, we first have to understand why Jeep had such a high tree to fall from in the first place.
Now, I am currently under the influence of 4 or 9 Michelob ultras, may or may not be a bit pissy because I spent this entire weekend repairing my beloved Jeep product, and I essentially zero evidence to back up what I’m about to say: but I say this out of both love and disappointment, earned from spending the last 22 years of my life living and breathing these things.
Jeep’s explosion of popularity is because for a brief period in the late 1980’s to the 2000s, Jeep was a Domestic Toyota.
I’ll explain.
Chrysler always seemed to make the best of what they had, and as such were forced to go long periods without overhauls or redesigns. If a car was crap (and a good many of them were) they were just stuck putting lipstick on a pig for the next 10 years, or they’d pull it and drop the replacement designed by Mitsubishi.
That WOULD be a huge detriment to any other automaker, but Chrysler had three aces up their sleeve. Talented exterior and interior designers, a powertrain that was accidentally one of the most reliable ever devised by an American automaker, and built-in brand loyalty.
So we had the still-realistic pricing strategies of the late AMC/Chrysler era, a wonderful drivetrain, a simple architecture, and brand loyalty.
It wasn’t long before they built a fantastic reputation.
By the late 90s, jeeps were known by the layperson for being kind of boring, but very reliable, and very capable, and priced fairly with great resale.
Who does that sound like?
Toyota, that’s who.
By the mid 2000s though, it was time to update things.
And mid 2000s Chrysler was not who you wanted making updates.
The Daimler merger did not make things better. German engineering is great, when you maintain a vehicle with a mentality of maintaining a German designed vehicle. Surprise surprise, Chrysler customers do not do that.
By the late 2000s, Chrysler was a mess. Cerberus did what Cerberus does, and what was left of Jeep was pillaged for every last dollar with the bare minimum of effort and expense going towards making decent vehicles.
Then, unpopular opinion here, but Fiat came in and saved the day. Reliability returned, nice design returned, and we had a resurgence.
Until Stellantis, who could have done what was right and continued what was working great under FCA. Ah, But they didn’t, did they?
They saw an opportunity to bank on that brand loyalty built by previous decades, and take the pricing to the max while making absolutely insane engineering decisions.
Now we are left with the opposite of Toyota.
High transaction prices, over complicated engineering, mediocre reliability, Terrible resale, and stagnant product planning.
If they want a future, they need to do what worked in the past.
Honestly, price versus reliability is what keeps me away from wanting a Jeep. I would -love- to get a Gladiator, but it’s too expensive to get into for it to be a fun truck to take offroad. I don’t want to offroad something that costs $40k. At 40k I would feel bad doing to it what I would want to use it for (offroading, some mild hauling, etc). At that price I could look at some older full size trucks for the truck stuff, and get something like a Chevy Tracker to have fun with offroad. The same thing with the Wrangler – I could buy something older for way less to off road, and with the lack of reputation for reliability with anything related to Stellantis, is it really much more of a gamble with the older vehicle?
This is a pretty succinct explanation. And agreed. Loved growing up in XJs, YJs, and eventually TJs. Then the JKs were trash. I think the current sleeper for reliability in the lineup is the 2.0 equipped JLs. I haven’t heard a bad word about them. The 3.6 on the other hand
I really do want to say, however, that Stellantis/Chrysler reliability issues are very, very overblown. It’s almost like when everyone just started saying nickelback sucked out of nowhere. It’s kind of an internet go-to at this point, how terrible the quality is, and it’s truly been my experience that they’re the MOST reliable of the Detroit 3, and they have been since the mid 2010s.
Ford at least has some very solid powertrains, but they’ve been pretty spotty with what seems like rushed development cycles.
GM though, good Lord have they fallen off a cliff. Stellantis and Ford have little technical issues for the most part.
GM straight up has knowingly sold ticking timebombs since the 2014 model came out. The idea that Stellantis gets knocked for bad quality all the time while GM continues to pump out the L87 saying nothing is wrong while they explode at 20,000 miles, and hasn’t produced a truck transmission that can reliably go past 100,000 since 2013 is just wild to me.
The internet definitely doesn’t always align to reality. The truly strange thing is that as time goes on, things on the internet seem to be taken ever more seriously than reality
You nailed it. Hat tip, sir.
Is it a Jeep or a ‘Jeep’? The air dropped crate and end title card have the wordmark as ‘Jeep’ with the quotes.
I guess it is a ‘Jeep’ thing and I don’t understand.
It duplicates the logo used after WWII when Willys-Overland was fighting with Ford and Bantam in the late 1940s to capture Jeep as a trademark.
Interesting bit of history, thanks.
The fundamental problem with Jeep is the cost and poor quality. Jeep used to be for the blue collar worker, it was affordable, fun, and could put in work. With Wranglers and Gladiators coming in at $60,000+ and top-trims being north of $100,000, Jeep has positioned themselves in the market to compete with Land Cruiser and Range Rover without delivering the premium experience. In short, the most defining vehicle in the lineup feels schizophrenic; is it a rugged off road machine for the masses or a high-priced luxury SUV that doesn’t deliver the experience promised by the price tag?
The major issue is quality, every major issue I’ve encountered as a modern Jeep owner is one of poor QA and corner cutting. The corrosion issue on the hood and doors is from cutting corners on paint prep and bolting aluminum directly to steel. The leaky roof, the Pentastar eating cams, electrical gremlins, rattles, squeaks, trim falling off. Jeep needs to hire someone from Toyota to come in and change the culture to one of pride and quality. Putting out a new sticker package every month isn’t winning over owners.
Street Lineup:
Small crossover: I see bringing back the Jeepster badge; the Jeepster was never made to be an off road vehicle. It would be a good platform for EV and hybrid power train options, and should have some option for a cloth roof and open-top driving but can remain a FWD with optional AWD without betraying the name.
Compact Crossover: The Liberty would slot into the compact crossover space, but like the midsize segment, this is crowded with competition and it would have to stand out in design, capability, and value. Hybrid powertrains will help with CAFE requirements
Midsize Crossover: The Cherokee badge would fit midsize crossover space, but it will be up against a crowded field; everyone has a midsize SUV and Jeep will have to step up the quality and capability while capping the price to make it viable against the RAV-4.
Full Size SUV: Grand Cherokee will remain in this space for the street-oriented full size SUV segment.
Large SUV: Wagoneer, but fix all the problems with it and price it where people can actually afford it. Ditch the overly complicated airbag suspension and put on some coils like everyone else. Go after the Tahoe instead of Range Rover.
Off Road Lineup: All of the below should be made available with every off road option independently spec’d without being paired with luxury features. The Wrangler and Gladiator should all be made available with gearing options and 35″ tires from the factory.
Small SUV: Rebadge the Jimney, call it the CJ-15 (for the 1.5L). Available with up to 33″ tires.
Wrangler 2 Door – no significant change.
Chief – Stretched 2-door Wrangler without the Wrangler face, ditch the flying fenders and share the front clip with the Gladiator redesign and a unique grille insert.
Wrangler 4 Door – lengthen it for more legroom in the back and more cargo space. Possibly a fixed hard-top with a full-length opening cloth roof option.
Gladiator – Give it a unique face patterned after the J10/J20 or the Kaiser, lean into that history. Ditch the plastic Wrangler roof. Make a fixed windscreen and rear roll hoop with a removable Targa-style center roof panel. The rear roll bar would extend above the roof to act as a roof rack/sportbar and be pre-wired for lighting or power to a RTT. Make the rear window of the truck roll-down into the back of the cab; this will give every benefit of the removable roof but with added roof strength for roof racks and greater utility (and hopefully fewer leaks).
Of course, none of this works at all without the quality and value-for-money to move units.
How do they fix Jeep? I don’t know in the general sense, but I do know what they’d have to do so that I’ll buy another new one.
I don’t really care if it’s now tan with orange wheels.
I want to buy an off-road rig that can go places other than the dealership to sort the latest recall.
Some time around 2020, the powers that bee at Jeep decided that Jeep was a luxury brand and cranked up the prices by several thousands of dollars without changing much. Aside from the SJ (and even this is questionable) Jeep has never been a luxury brand. Bring back the TJ Wrangler. 2 doors only. Four cylinder only, with or without a turbo. Add a long wheelbase model, and offer it with a half cab if people want a Jeep truck. If you want another sort of vehicle, shop for it at another Stellantis brand.
My main idea would be to build things that do not cost a fortune and are not being constantly recalled, bricking themselves, or beginning to rot after 2 years.
To me, the big issue with Jeep can be seen with a coworker. He has a YJ softtop. It has the 4.0L, a manual transmission and not a single option. He’s had it since new and he’s never had a lick of problems out of it.
His wife convinced him to get a JK so it had 4 doors and a hardtop. He drives that when it is raining. Assuming it runs. It’s been in the shop 50 times for each time the older YJ has. The further away they are from the AMC days, the further away they are from that ability to Timex their way through life.
Or as another example, 3 years ago, two coworkers got new-to-them vehicles. One got a new Cherokee. The other got a 3 year old Range Rover. Guess who lemon lawed their vehicle and replaced it with a Kia? Guess who hasn’t been to a shop with her SUV? If you are having problems being as reliable as a used Range Rover, you have a PROBLEM and until that is solved, people aren’t going to buy your product, regardless of how it cool it is.
I am on team Land Rover after picking up an LR4 for cheap. What a tank. It’s 15 years old and the interior doesn’t have a squeak, rattle, or any broken plastic.
After riding in a brand new Wagoneer, and watching a coworkers pain with a GC 4xe, I would rather roll the dice on a Discovery.
Also on team LR, but mine is a ’73 Series 3 and more of a weekend fun car. All the squeaks you don’t have live in mine. I think something like what you have would be a great DD in comparison.
It’s a great DD as long as I can stomach the terrible mpg. I don’t have a commute so it suits me well to get to trails and the beer store.
I’m right there with mileage in the low teens. On the plus side, I have no horsepower either.
I have a Jeep MJ with 282k miles on it. When I look in my garage and consider what vehicle I’d take on a long drive because I trust it, the Comanche is at the top of the list.
I have a friend with a JK it’s been pretty reliable other than a bad manual transmission that got replaced under warranty. Another friend has a JL, it’s also been good to him but it has the hinge corrosion issues and water floating in the taillights.
I’d own a new Jeep if they offered a two door gladiator with a stick shift. I kinda doubt that will happen even though there have been many concept vehicles of the such by Jeep over the years.
If Jeeps were as well built and long lasting as your MJ, they would sell better. But the new ones all seem to have Stellantis issues where Fiat (not known for Quality) and Chrysler (also not known for quality) combined their power like the Wonder Twins and took the form of a poop emoji, particularly with the 4XE.
I agree with David, particularly with making a small SUV that can go anywhere (e.g. original Jeep), but if it can’t go anywhere without a tow-truck, it is a doomed concept.
OK all this talk about Gladiators sucking, is this actually true? I’ve wanted one since they were announced and would still like to have one someday, but all i hear from everyone is they are just bad. WHY!!!!!
I suspect 98% of those who talk about how much Gladiators suck have never owned or even driven one. I have talked to a few Gladiator owners, none of which have had any major complaints. The only exception might be the 4xe – it sounds like the 4xe models (Wrangler or Gladiator) are problematic for reliability.
I own a Wrangler and previously drove a Wrangler Unlimited for 10 years. Both have bad reputations for reliability and quality. Both have been great. If you like the Gladiator, I don’t see a reason not to buy one.
Well unfortunately the reason is money. And it just doesn’t fit in my current lineup, but i still want it, and that is what you want if you’re a brand, you want people to WANT your thing even if it makes no sense.
The only modern Jeep i’ve driven was a rented Wrangler 4Xe and it was fantastic, so its a pity to hear about the reliability issues. Miles better than my clapped out YJ, so if that is what people are calling crappy, count me in!
Yeah, money is a good reason not to buy a car!
I can see why you want a Gladiator. They are cool. I thought about getting one for a while, but went with the Wrangler instead.
The 4xe’s reliability issues are disappointing. I think the Wrangler Unlimited and Gladiator are two of the more versatile vehicles you can buy. They are fun and obviously good off road, but they can haul a lot of stuff and are far more comfortable than most people expect. With the 4xe’s fuel economy, either should be a great one-vehicle solution (at least, a great solution to everything aside from on-road performance).
I have heard some 4xe owners reporting good experiences, though. Again, the 4xe has a terrible reputation (which is backed by objective reliability data), but then again, my JKU and JL manual both have bad reputations and both were/are great, so maybe the 4xe’s problems are overblown?
If they offered it in two door, I’d have one. As they don’t, I purchased the most logical alternative, a Jeep Comanche, and I love everything about it. It’s reliable, comfortable, has excellent payload, and is actually small so it’s easy to drive. The only thing I’d change on it is make the cab about 4″ longer for more legroom and or a bit more dry storage.
I’ve had one for three years and 80k. Just turned over 80k yesterday on it’s third 2k+ road trip since I’ve owned it. My biggest complaint is if you don’t twist the gas cap right the door won’t shut all the way. It’s had zero issues otherwise. It’s taking me amazing places and done all the things I need a truck to do.
The gladiator is the Internet punching bag, think up and automotive stereotype and the gladiator probably qualifies.
I love mine but kinda exhausted defending it. I hope they keep it based off the Wrangler for at least another generation
I had one. Traded it for a 4xe in 2023. The manual was horrid. Otherwise a solid Jeep with the added utility of a bed. The 4xe has also been solid. 3 years, 60k miles, no worries. Keeping it till the wheels fall off
My mother, inexplicably, bought a highlighter yellow Gladiator mojave because she fell in love with it on the lot. She’s 67. They took it 10 hours all the way to the very tip of Key West and back and somehow still do not hate it.
It’s got 50,000 on the clock and the only major issue so far is that the entire digital instrument cluster failed and required a month wait on backorder.
Thanks to the lovely way Jeep handles warranty claims, the Gladiator had to sit in the dealer lot while she was given a Jeep Renegade on loan. She then fell in love with the Renegade and I said thank goodness they don’t make them anymore lol
Is the JL-2A also available in the other CJ-2A launch colorway, bright apple green with yellow wheels, both a bit lighter but only slightly muted from John Deere’s colors?
Crossover carcinization is a conundrum. If the existing plan is for Chrysler to be the new Plymouth, then Jeep doesn’t also need to be the new Plymouth. This would mean every Jeep should be “Trail Rated” but at that point if the models in high volume segments are ruggedized versions of the Chrysler next to them in the showroom it risks diluting Jeep to a trim level.
The solution is hiding in plain site…
Jeep: There’s Only One.
This should be their slogan AND brand strategy. The Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited sell themselves. Other Jeep products not so much. Get rid of ’em.
My solution is eliminating models and right sizing. Brands don’t need to offer a full lineup of vehicles. Jeep, and all other Stellantis brands, should be narrowly focused with the goal of selling Stellantis products as a whole. I envision something like this:
This would save not only Jeep but Stellantis as well. A few potential customers would end up at a non-Stellantis dealers, but those that buy less popular Jeep products usually end up at non-Stellantis dealers eventually. No loss there.
This really shouldn’t be that hard.
This is much of my position with respect to auto manufacturers. I’m not sure when it started happening, but every big conglomerate seems to want each brand to have a full line nowadays. I mean, I can understand the “Mother Brand” e.g. Toyota, Ford, etc. having everything from sports coupes to 3-row SUVs and the like… but even the niche subsidiary brands?
Like it’s fine to have Dodge focus on sports cars and performance, Chrysler once it grows back on luxury, family, and image… Jeep on the off-road and adventure, and so on. At least in my mind, that reduces product redunancy and overlap.
“Other Jeep products not so much. Get rid of ’em.”
Not so sure about that. Wrangler sales have fallen sharply, I wouldn’t be putting all the eggs in that one basket.
No reason the Grand Cherokee can’t remain successful. It’s fooled enough people into thinking it’s an actual premium product for decades. People love that illusion, just look at the ridiculous Pallisade/Telluride. Jeep needs better powertrains to keep up with those. The GC has better cachet than the Durango.
The RAV4 segment is too popular to give up as well. Follow the Bronco Sport by leaning into the heritage with a Cherokee that isn’t overpriced with an uncompetitve hybrid.
Wrangler, GC, Cherokee. If Stellantis can’t manage to keep those 3 distinct long running nameplate successful, then they shouldn’t be making vehicles at all.
“Wrangler sales have fallen sharply”
Have they, though? The data shows a high of 240k in 2018 (around the time the JL was released) with anywhere from 158k to 228k since then. They sold 165k last year and appear to be on track for similar sales this year. That is not bad for a model that has gone nearly a decade without a major update.
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/jeep-wrangler-sales-figures/
DT’s graph shows that Jeep sales overall have cratered, but the Wrangler/Wrangler Unlimited appear to have a steady stream of buyers every year.
I can see a rationale for selling a Cherokee in addition to the Wrangler, but honestly, I think Jeep is best having a very limited lineup. Plus, Wrangler owners love customization (my bone stock Jeep looks unique), so Jeep could make some money by bringing more customization in house.
Jeep ought to make products better first, not introduce a plethora of questionable models that focus solely on rock-crawling.
As far as Van life, something along the lines of the old Vanagon Synchro- narrow, fits in a garage, sleeps a comfy and is small enough to actually make it down a trail.
The best path to van domination is for Jeep (or anyone) to rebadge a VW California
Eh, I’m thinking more Jeep FC Van
Here’s the completely full proof, known corporation lover NSane’s plan to save Jeep: stop charging so fucking much for bad cars
That’s it. The end. Give me my golden parachute, goddammit!
I like a lot of your takes. I would pair down the lineup.
Why not sell the Mahindra Roxor with true Jeep fascia as the ATV? You could have an EV one. That gives you a “Jeep” under $20,000 even if it can’t technically be driven on the road.
Next up: Maverick competitor, only it’s more like…well, a Jeep XJ. A Jeep can get away with being bare bones in a way that other vehicles can’t. Make it a small SUV that’s like a modern XJ but not scary in terms of safety and with an adequate hybrid motor and 4WD with true low range. Small size, but great looks and proportions. This vehicle would cap out at $29,999. It would be small—like an XJ. It may even be slightly smaller than the Maverick or Trax.
Then you really just need a good Cherokee that isn’t the mom car that just came out (think: Bronco Sport with authenticity) and give the Grand Cherokee more teeth—kind of like the last generation. Trailhawk, Trackhawk, and more. And you’d still have the Wrangler.
This is a 5 vehicle lineup and one of them isn’t even street legal. More emphasis on the core of the market. You’d still have a third row model in the GC L.
Where I would change it up beyond this simplification is by getting Jeep dealers into the custom build game. Customers can come in and order exactly what they want with way more customizations—and if they do, there is no haggling like how Saturn and Scion did it; they are after all picking out how expensive the car is. You would have access to all kinds of special accessories, customizations, colors, embroidery, gear, etc. and really make it a lifestyle brand kind of in the same vein as high end car brands but for more normal folk. This would make them desirable in a way that they haven’t been for some time and would probably lead to increased resale values on the customized ones, which would lift the whole brand. It would also help lift the Jeep dealers up from the doldrums where they currently are.
A small XJ like Maverick Competitor. You mean a modern MJ Comanche?
The JL-2A should be a much more basic JL- 3.6, manual, soft top.
Agree with that, and also needs to go on a diet in every direction, especially width and weight. It is a full 8 inches wider than its YJ cousin and 1200 to 1400 lbs heavier. That weight increase is just putting ranch dressing on a pizza! And where are the half doors? HALF. DOORS.
Pretty much exactly what I’ve been echoing in the comments.
The screwed the pooch on the Cherokee relaunch. It’s 7k to high of a MSRP. Sure Im sure the OTD price will be dropped with incentives but people won’t even go to the dealership when they see the sticker vs a RAV4 or CRV.
Make a wrangler lite ala the geo tracker. Basically a manx but with aftermarket removeable cab or tops like the slate.
They need an affordable way to get kids in the door. Adventure is great but it needs to be attainable to build a solid foundation.
Your point is solid: get kids in the door.
Car brands used to have new cars that were cheap enough that they competed with used cars. It used to be cheaper to go get a brand new Nissan Sentra or Nissan Hardbody pickup than to get a used car.
Now everyone is such a douche that we think cars like that are beneath the collective ‘us’ even though the reality is they’re more ‘us’ than ever given the state of affairs of our economy.
How much would a brand new Suzuki Sidekick slap in today’s world?!
The original RaV4 was a tiny SUV with a drop top back half. Suzuki X90, Isuzu Amigo…bring back weird little SUVs with removable tops that don’t cost 40 grand.
Now you’re speaking my language!
Back then it’s almost like they figured out if the car was missing 20% of the metal it may cost less to make!
Pour one out for the Asüna Sunrunner, Pontiac Sunrunner, GMC Tracker…and Santana 300! ????????
This is the broken promise of the Renegade. I remember when it was announced, i wanted one pretty badly. It could have been the gateway drug i needed to become Jeep Guy.
The real thing about the OG Patriot and Compass, other than the Rubbermaid interiors, is that they would’ve been better executed if they were just unabashedly crappier in the ways they tried to soften (interior, size, NVH, equipment), so long as they retained virtually ANY of the authenticity people consciously value, of which they retained absolutely zero.
If you want younger buyers, you build things they can afford. I truly do not think it matters what body style it is or what it looks like. Look at how many people under 35 are running around in Kias.
No arguments there – needs to be priced between 20-24k for sure.
I think Davids trying to get there by sidestepping regs with the side by side but the reality is it needs to be street legal – cheap and fun and sort of adventurey.
Admittedly I am not a Jeep fan. I have driven them, rented them, ridden in them, seen their stupid duck collections, and been generally unimpressed. I get the fun of offroading, beach bombing, running dunes, etc. But the absolute greed of manufacturers with such inflated prices sickens me. Jeep is a prime offender.
Price points with Jeep are another example of the common person being priced out of the market, whether for health insurance, health care costs, car prices, vacation prices, food prices, etc. Jeep has become a toy, a status symbol, an expensive male overcompensation therapy. Sad.
I remember when the Suzuki Samurai became a massive fad. Nobody knew if it was built well or safe or reliable or anything like that. It was just a cheap toy that could blast around on the beach or go down an off-road trail or just blast around town with the doors and roof off. Sold like crazy until it was basically assassinated by a rigged test to make it roll over.
In today’s dollars, the Samurai started at $20k. Many Side-by-sides are the same price or more. I figure some company would start a street legal side-by-side at $30k and it would only go up from there. Which would make it not a “what the hell, why not have fun” vehicle like the Samurai was when it was selling faster than Suzuki could import them.
While I love the interior of the JL-2A, the prices on the JLs is just way, way too high. I’ll be sticking with my TJ for the foreseeable future.
Yeah. This comment is hard to swallow as “cheapish”. I would say instead it is expensive(ish)
That engine is old too, and all the tooling, etc. has long since been paid off. Dodge will now sell you a Durango with it for like 50 grand and a few years ago you could get a base Scat Pack with it off dealer lots for under $50,000.
…how in the name of god and all that is holy does it necessitate a $20,000+ premium? Stellantis probably has literal piles of these boat anchors laying around. It’s always cracked me up that all the new marketing is HURR DURRR WE PUT A HEMI BACK IN IT! Now pay us an extra 5 figures, you stupid fucking idiot!
It’s not a premium option. It’s not a premium powertrain. It’s a heavy, old, incredibly inefficient V8 that puts out good power and happens to sound fantastic. You can get a Chevy or Ford truck with a similarly potent V8 and an off-road/peacocking package for way, way less money than a V8 Wrangler.
While the average repeat Stellantis customer is not someone I have positive things to say about, the whole PAY US MORE, WE’RE THE V8 GUYS schtick is going to get old even with them. The core brands have barely changed in like 75 goddamn years!
“Oh the V8 Wrangler is a bargain at $70,000” is just hysterically out of touch.
The concept of an “average Stellantis customer” stopped me in my tracks.
What does the mean average of a credit criminal in a base Chrysler Voyager on a 14.99% 84 month loan with no warranty and an alcoholic Mopar NASCAR fan drunk on horsepower and cylinder counts in cars that run on midgrade look like?!
It could be Karen with a bob or pixie haircut in a brand new Cherokee Hybrid? I’m not sure, but the concept is perplexing.
Wrangler use to be the bottom of the line up. Jeep need to really reduce the prices and up the quality. They need to bring back the lifetime bumper to bumper warranty they use to sell.
Could they have gone the other direction and made a stripped down jeep -2a that was $4K LESS than the sport?
That would be far more in the spirt of the CJ-2A
I’d love to have the lifetime warranty on my GC. They’d go bankrupt.
I have one on my 2012 JKU and have saved at least 10-15K in repairs.
The MSRP on a ’94 Wrangler was less than that year’s Corolla. If I could get a hardy runabout weekend vehicle with removable body panels (or a soft top) at don’t-think-twice pricing, I could overlook a lot of faults.
Jeep and Audi seem to share an intertwined fall from greatness: Both built a name on enhanced capability, but when the rest of the class caught up, they couldn’t figure out the next move.
Jeep (Stellantis) trying to get mileage out of an aging powertrain/trim/model/platform is the most on-brand thing.