A Horse With No Name

I think we will see a major reshuffling when we go to electric cars. Give the current auto market until 2030, 2035 at the latest. China and Germany will lead, and at some point electric will hit critical mass in the USA. At that point, all bets are off. We are whistling by the graveside of everyone from Buick to Mazda IMHO. Because I think that electric will be a slate wiper in terms of how cars are perceived, purchased, driven, et al. Consider also that the world keeps changing to being more and more urban. At some point, inter city rail will be a big thing, even in the United states...and the United states will fight that like crazy for the next 50 years...people will no longer drive 450 miles to get somewhere. Or at least not in the quantity they do now.

Considering that Jeeps have more actual towing capacity than many of their competitors, that would also be a plus...

Or actually renew the current lineups with continuous improvements. Do not do what GM did with the Monte Carlo, Cutlass, Regal, et al and milk the name for all that it is worth with lackluster product. If GM had handled these product lines properly, Oldsmobile would still be in driveways all over suburban Midwestern neighborhoods....

Do that in a Mazda 6 wagon to win over all of the Jetta/Golf wagon owners selling theirs back....

Any more anything I spend money on is a boutique product anyways. We have a local free store that is run by the United Methodist church...most of my clothes come from there other than the occasional pair of work boots or blue jeans....since so many people in Ohio get fat and overweight they have more stuff with a 38 and 40 inch waist than they can give away...free store actually encourages people of all income levels to shop there...I live in a moderately affluent area so they always have plenty of nice things, as do the local thrift shops. Things like tools I actually really try to buy American made for quality reasons, so I buy online from Boutique tool makers. Power tools I prefer Festool which is German, not cheap, but not available from big box stores. I eat at local family owned restaurants and only rarely eat at chain restaurants. Groceries I prefer local farmers markets and family owned stores to traditional grocery stores much of the time... Plus I am an introvert to end all introverts and hate crowds. Were I to be given my way, I would be a pilot flying a cargo plane on a route to Australia or new Zealand. Being separated by 40,000 feet and a thousand miles of Pacific ocean from other humans would be about right....just make sure my co pilot is as much of an introvert as I am...

Dollar for dollar, the interiors are decent but do not excite me terribly. There are people who swear by Mazda products and people who swear at them, I am pretty much in the latter category, other than the Miata, which I love. For that matter, Acura is a supposed Luxury Brand and has damn near nothing inspirational about it. What Acura products are not sold as a Honda somewhere else in the world market, for the most part? Mazda is impressive because they buck the trend of a box on wheels with a crappy CVT, which is pretty much the average of JDM home market cars. I admire the plucky and passionate nature of Mazda, just not sure the majority of their fleet moves me enough for sixty months and sixty payments.

I think at some point buying on line wills tart to hurt big box retailers. Thankfully, we need very little this year, and we will not be going out shopping black Friday.

They have other issues.....their heart is not in passenger car production. they need to GTFO of making anything other than the Challenger, Charger and 300...and drop them like a hot potato when they no longer are cash cows like they are now. Bring in Alfa SUV's as boutique vehicles, and vehicles like the Alfa 4C and the Alfa sedan...this will bring them attention in car magazines and on the road. Dump every dime into Jeep and RAM, and get your best and brightest engineers into a skunk works doing electrics and hybrids. The new Pacifica Hybrid is actually supposed to be pretty good, so build on that technology. They need to differentiate the different jeep models more clearly from each other and continue to just market the living dog piss out of Jeep... Continue to build Jeep in foreign markets, where it has always done fairly well. Fix the administrative mess that FCA corporate is. Hire someone somewhat unpleasant that will take charge and make heads roll. Find creative sponsorship opportunities for RAM, be they bull riding, Rodeo, Bass fishing, whatever. Traditional advertising does not do jack squat, send the Ram advertising people over to talk to the Jeep advertising people. Stop spending money on traditional advertising almost entirely. Copy the DNA of what MINI was as a fun unique brand when it first came over in 2002, 2003, and not the mess it is now. Dump the entire Fiat line other than the 500X and 500 Abarth, and switch the plant in Mexico building these to building Jeeps. Sell the 500X and 500 Abarth as limited production boutique vehicles here in the US. Keep the ATP High. Under this scope of sales, you will only sell 5000 to 10,000 Abarths Max in the US, so you could import them from Italy. Do not bring out a Fiat crossover other than the 500X, as it will cannibalize Jeep sales. Dodge and Chrysler need to go the way of Plymouth, Mercury, all good flesh, and the Dodo bird. Pacifica and Durango could become RAM products, drop the horrible dated unreliable Journey and burn its legacy with flames. Continue to build on the success of the U-connect infotainment and put some of your best people in charge of technology because that is what will sell vehicles for you in the future. Especially people dropping coin for a 50K Grand Cherokee.

Having the same problem....

Hell yes!

Awesome! Methinks I need to road trip the west coast! We have been burned out on Turkey for some time now...

Actually i prefer good Asian cooking to almost anything else....anyone down for some Thai?

Had some fantastic Ham with friends Saturday night, looking forward to whatever my daughter Joanna cooks up for thanksgiving, she is very creative...

Agreed!

Jeep has to have done the best job actually marketing their products of any automaker. VW did a fantastic job with creative adverting int he 1960's, but interestingly enough Subaru has totally stolen their vibe of the offbeat car you buy if you are somewhat less than traditional. This product kind of fits in with FCA DNA in terms of them offering a lot of creative truckish and SUVish products.

Probably improve it, most of the global car makers are stiffening the chassis and unibody a good bit with their global architecture. A good case in point is how much better the MK 7 GTI is than the MK 6 GTI. Subaru also really improved the stiffness with the latest Impreza and WRX models also. Also of note, I think car makers should stick to building things they are passionate about....and Chryco/Fiat is passionate about Jeep. I think they will nail the execution on this one.

Indeed, that would allow one to have a summer fun car!

I ride mostly rail trails and rural quiet roads. Try to avoid auto traffic like the plague.

I agree. I really liked your list, btw. OK, so we have beaten this bracket to death in terms of the same cars over and over... 4 cars I am most thinking of to replace the Jetta... GTI WRX Focus ST Civic SI. Going to copy Olds on the Buick GNX...might also take a grand national.