Jeep News: Next Jeep Grand Cherokee To Use Alfa Romeo Bits
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By William Maley
When Fiat Chrysler Automobiles unveiled their latest five-year plan last year, it mentioned about launching a subscription program for Jeep owners that would launch sometime in 2019. This program appears to be moving forward along with a new peer-to-peer car-sharing program.
Bloomberg reports that FCA will be launching two pilot programs, while Motor Authority has learned about a third pilot. All of the programs will take place in Boston and last for about three months.
Here are the three programs in detail,
The first program will see FCA team up with peer-to-peer car sharing service Turo and allow owners to rent out their vehicles to help "offset their car payments," when they are not using it. Jeep is inviting owners in the Boston area over email to sign up and will be limited to the first 100. Program two will have FCA and car rental firm Avis working together on a subscription service that will allow Jeep owners to swap into other FCA products like a Dodge Charger or Ram 1500. Again, it will be limited the first 100 people who sign up. Program three that was brought to light by Motor Authority is known as Car "Borrowing". Teaming with Avis, FCA will be offering Jeep owners the ability to "purchase six "Jeep Coins" that entitles them to a one-day rental" of most products from the FCA lineup. The coins will be good for a year, and owners can either pick up the vehicles or have them dropped off. “All these people who are casually going, ‘Is it for me or not for me?,’ I can then get them as potential prospects to sell them a brand-new Wrangler. We’ll find out what’s good and what’s bad, what customers like and what they don’t like, and ultimately from that we’ll decide if we want to do this as something we promote to our dealerships at the time of sale,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of the Jeep in North America to Bloomberg.
“We know all the pluses and minuses of subscription services, we’ve seen some challenges. Let’s step our toe in, let’s see if this is, No. 1, right for the brand. If it makes sense, let’s try it.”
The first two programs have already launched, while the third program is expected to launch sometime later this year.
Source: Bloomberg , Motor Authority
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By William Maley
When Fiat Chrysler Automobiles unveiled their latest five-year plan last year, it mentioned about launching a subscription program for Jeep owners that would launch sometime in 2019. This program appears to be moving forward along with a new peer-to-peer car-sharing program.
Bloomberg reports that FCA will be launching two pilot programs, while Motor Authority has learned about a third pilot. All of the programs will take place in Boston and last for about three months.
Here are the three programs in detail,
The first program will see FCA team up with peer-to-peer car sharing service Turo and allow owners to rent out their vehicles to help "offset their car payments," when they are not using it. Jeep is inviting owners in the Boston area over email to sign up and will be limited to the first 100. Program two will have FCA and car rental firm Avis working together on a subscription service that will allow Jeep owners to swap into other FCA products like a Dodge Charger or Ram 1500. Again, it will be limited the first 100 people who sign up. Program three that was brought to light by Motor Authority is known as Car "Borrowing". Teaming with Avis, FCA will be offering Jeep owners the ability to "purchase six "Jeep Coins" that entitles them to a one-day rental" of most products from the FCA lineup. The coins will be good for a year, and owners can either pick up the vehicles or have them dropped off. “All these people who are casually going, ‘Is it for me or not for me?,’ I can then get them as potential prospects to sell them a brand-new Wrangler. We’ll find out what’s good and what’s bad, what customers like and what they don’t like, and ultimately from that we’ll decide if we want to do this as something we promote to our dealerships at the time of sale,” said Tim Kuniskis, head of the Jeep in North America to Bloomberg.
“We know all the pluses and minuses of subscription services, we’ve seen some challenges. Let’s step our toe in, let’s see if this is, No. 1, right for the brand. If it makes sense, let’s try it.”
The first two programs have already launched, while the third program is expected to launch sometime later this year.
Source: Bloomberg , Motor Authority
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By William Maley
While the Jeep Gladiator hasn't arrived at dealers yet (due in the second quarter), there is already talk about what could be in store. The Jeep Gladiator Forum has learned from a source that the brand is considering building a high-performance variant known as "Hercules". According to the source, the vehicle "is currently being evaluated for market viability" and has not been given the green light. There are some prototypes being built but only as "one-offs for testing purposes."
Jeep has hinted at doing a high-performance off-road model. Mark Allen, head of Jeep design recently mentioned a high-speed off-road vehicle is on the agenda for Jeep’s expansion on an episode of Autoline After Hours (video below). It doesn't mean that the Gladiator is the vehicle in question, however.
If we were to hazard a guess as to what a high-performance Gladiator may look like, we would guess that a V8 engine would be under the hood, possibly the 6.4L HEMI V8. A number of parts from the Rubicon model such as differential locks and anti-roll bar disconnects could appear.
Source: Jeep Gladiator Forum
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By William Maley
While the Jeep Gladiator hasn't arrived at dealers yet (due in the second quarter), there is already talk about what could be in store. The Jeep Gladiator Forum has learned from a source that the brand is considering building a high-performance variant known as "Hercules". According to the source, the vehicle "is currently being evaluated for market viability" and has not been given the green light. There are some prototypes being built but only as "one-offs for testing purposes."
Jeep has hinted at doing a high-performance off-road model. Mark Allen, head of Jeep design recently mentioned a high-speed off-road vehicle is on the agenda for Jeep’s expansion on an episode of Autoline After Hours (video below). It doesn't mean that the Gladiator is the vehicle in question, however.
If we were to hazard a guess as to what a high-performance Gladiator may look like, we would guess that a V8 engine would be under the hood, possibly the 6.4L HEMI V8. A number of parts from the Rubicon model such as differential locks and anti-roll bar disconnects could appear.
Source: Jeep Gladiator Forum
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By William Maley
Jeep is seeing record sales of the Wrangler, Through November, sales climbed 25 percent over 2017, to 220,232 vehicles. This year also saw monthly sales record of 29,776 Wranglers sold in April.
But there is a bit of problem with the Wrangler. According to Automotive News, dealers have over a 100-day supply of the model. In the beginning of November, dealers were sitting on a 156-day supply of Wranglers. The number has fallen to 135-days at the beginning of this month. But it is still a perplexing problem. How can Jeep dealers have such a huge backlog of Wranglers, despite selling a fair number of them?
There are two reasons. The first deals with production. FCA's Toledo, Ohio plant has undergone some changes that allow it to produce nearly double amount of vehicles of the previous line. CEO Mike Manley has said the additional capacity will allow Jeep to expand sales of the Wrangler to other markets.
But the other reason is a bit troubling. Some dealers tell AN that the Wrangler is getting too expensive. The starting price of the Wrangler two-door rose $3,950 over the previous generation, while the four-door Unlimited jumped $3,550. The Wrangler is one of the few FCA vehicles that "has traditionally been retailed with little or no consumer cash".
"I have the largest Wrangler supply I have ever had. That car has gone up in the last three years $12,000! These freakin' things are $55,000 now. I think that vehicle is price-sensitive, and I think they went a little far with the pricing. They were a little aggressive," said an unnamed dealer in the Midwest.
The dealer said the "higher average transaction prices" could lead to higher resale value, "but it's bad when you start putting the price to the point where consumers can't buy them."
Other dealers are confident they can continue to sell the Wrangler, despite the higher prices.
"We've built capacity and just need to continue to adjust to it. I don't think there's an issue for that car at all," said Eric Nielsen, dealer principal at Nielsen Automotive Group in northern New Jersey.
"As with any vehicle within the industry, there is some seasonality when it comes to the Wrangler, and dealers are already preparing for a strong spring," a spokesman for FCA told AN.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)
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