Who would you want to control Jeep?

[Houndoc]

Listening to the radio on my way to work this morning, the discussion was on the auto bail out and the chances of the "Big 3" surviving.

One supposed expert commented that, in his opinion, Chrysler will not survive and will have to be sold off in parts. (I must admit, other than Dodge trucks and Jeeps, they don't offer much that would be missed, IMO.)

He went on to state that Jeep is a 'viable brand' that he thinks will be sold to 'a foreign automaker'.

So, lets say Jeep does get sold by one of the overseas companies.

Who would you WANT to have buy and control it? Why?

 

[Milner]

I say let them declare bankruptcy and let the cards fall where they may. If another company can buy them out, so be it....

 

[JoeT]

Someone that offers a great line of diesel motors.

 

[Houndoc]

Someone that offers a great line of diesel motors.

Thats already the case, and we still don't get one in the Jeeps.

 

[Vonski]

It may as well be Mahindra. They have been ripping-off engineering and styling ideas from Jeep vehicles for over 50 years anyway...

 

[Houndoc]

I put my vote (don't laugh) for Hyundai.

Why? Two main reasons.

1) Quality of products now rivals that of Toyota and Honda.
2) It is not Toyota. Nothing at all wrong with Toyota, but currently the only two companies that really even seem to try to create real off-road vehicles is Jeep and Toyota. If you put them under the same umbrella, then compition in the market goes down.

I would rather see Jeep go to a company trying to establish itself and compete in the market. Would seem to be the best way to get new, inovative products and designs.

 

[1993yj]

Why would anyone want a foreign manufacturer to purchase Jeep?

 

[Badger]

It may as well be Mahindra. They have been ripping-off engineering and styling ideas from Jeep vehicles for over 50 years anyway...

As far as I knew Mahindra has licensing rights to produce the products they have. I know back in the day they bought the right to produce the Willeys and early Cj's

The Mahindra & Mahindra company got its start importing unassembled Willys Jeeps and putting them together, and by 1954 M&M had a deal with Willys Overland to license-build the CJ-3B in India.

I don't know about any newer Jeeps models they may be producing.

 

[Vonski]

As far as I knew Mahindra has licensing rights to produce the products they have. I know back in the day they bought the right to produce the Willeys and early Cj's

You're right, and that was probably wasn't a fair statement. They did have the rights to produce Willy's type vehicles, but didn't they also have a line of utility vehicles that were just different enough that they didn't need approval? My web search is on...

 

[mbryson]

..........I would rather see Jeep go to a company trying to establish itself and compete in the market. Would seem to be the best way to get new, inovative products and designs.

Of all companies, Jeep seems to really suck at "new and innovative". They tend to be REALLY good at producing one thing. SUVs. If they change the formula too much, the enthusiast seems to lose interest and sales drop after a short time (take the Patriot/Compass, the WK Grand, the XK Commander, Liberty). I believe this is due to the enthusiast market accepting them which produces more sales from people "not in the fold".

If you look at the success' Jeep has had, they are all SIMPLE (or have evolved from a simple rig--ZJ and WJ Grand?), "reliable" vehicles.

I'm not sure if "innovative products and designs" come to mind for me re: Jeep. Simple, easy to modify for whatever use, and cheap to purchase/modify come to mind for me.

 

[Greg]

Agreed Marc... innovation = the end of solid axles.

 

[XJEEPER]

If innovative means an electric JK......meeeeh, no thanks.

Fossil fuel is here for at least 20 years in the mainstream marketplace, especially with the global entrenchment in petroleum. It would be great to see innovation in an affordable fuel replacement, electric isn't it, neither is cng. These are only profitable alternatives, IF oil stays in the $175 a barrel range long-term and there is a majority population buy-in that global climate change will harm us AND is caused by the emission of fossil fuel by-products.

We're all screwed if the US adopts the same or similar Cap and Trade Tax that the EU has proven unsuccessful......once a tax, always a tax, regardless if it works or not. We already have the 2nd highest Corp taxes in the world, here's a novel thought......perhaps the government could offer incentives for the great creative engineering minds to come up with something new?

Capitolism is not what it was 6 months ago, thanks to our current elected officials, as well as the newbs in the wings.......seems that the majority of them want a Socialist state. Government controlled healthcare, finance, housing, manufacturing........exactly the opposite of what our Founding Fathers designed, and exactly what they were afraid of.

We're not going to get inovation in this political environment, we're going to get vanilla......and you WILL like it.

Rant off.........let capitolism work. If they can't produce autos that we want, and do it on their own......then they have no business being in business.

 

[Medsker]

I put other...I'm just not sure who I would want to run it. I'm just sure that if anyone foreign, at least anyone big were to buy Jeep out that it would be the end of Jeep as we know it. My guess is they would immediately get rid of the front solid axle and "cushy" it up...although they might put a more powerful engine in it . I want to get a bunch of guys to get together and buy it ourselves:greg: Dana 60's, Hemi's, etc. Could be fun, we could probably buy it for cheap right now

Medsker

 

[XJEEPER]

Here's your innovation........

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=978243

 

[KrazyKarl]

wait a minuite. wasn't Jeep owned by the German Mercedes Benz the last little while? That didn't seem to effect it too much. They were still designed and manufactured by American engineers/factories. Pluss Jeep has changed has quite a bit in its life. Willys overland, Kaiser Jeep Corp., Amc, Chrysler, Chrysler benz. Except for full sized trucks american cars have been crap so may be it is a good thing if a forign, engeneering based company gets them for a while.

 

[CJ Matt]

Why would anyone want a foreign manufacturer to purchase Jeep?

I agree! If Jeep ended up changing hands it should be an American company. It is bad enough we have parts to include engines made in other countries and vehicles assembled in Canada and Mexico The idea of a great American name like Jeep being made by foreign company makes me sick. I know that Daimler owned Chrysler for awhile so I guess it was but I consider Jeep to be a historic vehicle made in a time of war to help our troops. It has survived being passed from one auto maker to next and maintains one of the most recognizable names world wide. I say get rid of half vehicles that are being made under the Jeep name and keep Jeep American with 2-3 vehicles!

 

[mbryson]

wait a minuite. wasn't Jeep owned by the German Mercedes Benz the last little while? That didn't seem to effect it too much. They were still designed and manufactured by American engineers/factories. Pluss Jeep has changed has quite a bit in its life. Willys overland, Kaiser Jeep Corp., Amc, Chrysler, Chrysler benz. Except for full sized trucks american cars have been crap so may be it is a good thing if a forign, engeneering based company gets them for a while.

....and look at the Commanders, Grand Cherokees, Patriots, Libertys, and Compass' FLYING out of the dealerships.

The Wrangler seems to have some reasonably strong sales esp. compared to their nameplate counterparts. (talking out my butt here as I haven't seen sales figures for Wranglers for over a year) I wonder if the enthusiast market is what's driving the sales for the Wrangler? How many heavily modded "other" Jeeps do you see? How complex and ridiculous are the other models on the showroom floor compared to the Wrangler?

Here's what I like about the rigs I own. They're a little older. They are not hampered with TONS of electronics with the exception of my StuperDuty. Everything I've had issues with on that truck is electronic related (gas pedal {WTF is wrong with a throttle cable?}, power locks, CPS (I think I'm on #4 now?), power windows, etc.). I'm glad I don't have the electronic shift 4WD whatever other fluff crap they put on the latest trucks.
Our ZJ has 140K miles and most stuff still works (even that stupid "information center" that tells you nothing) The rig is pretty simple. Straight 6, auto trans and even the crappy D35 is holding up somewhat respectably.
Our next door neighbors have a WK. They've had it about 2 years. It's amazing how much crap is in that car. Guess what they've had trouble with. The crap. The "my gig", the GPS stuff, the electronic dash, something with the ignition on the Hemi. That's a lot of stuff for 2 years. We've had our ZJ for 11 now.

I don't really care WHO buys Jeep (or any other company). We have a global economy now, for better or worse. If some company would figure out that we don't want to have to service our vehicles all the time and could live without some of the "fluff" in our rigs (don't get me wrong, I like AC, power locks, power windows, power steering, etc., but reliability is key), I think they could make a killing.

Somehow the American consumer would demand more crap though......

 

[spencevans]

It may as well be Mahindra. They have been ripping-off engineering and styling ideas from Jeep vehicles for over 50 years anyway...

Mahindra bought the rights to produce Jeeps over seas, as well as
Mitsubishi. Both currently still build Jeeps and pay royalties to Chrysler.

I'll be the first one at the dealer when the new Mahindra Pickups come out. I hope its sooner rather than later, cause I got a jonesing for another little diesel truck. Got love them Mitsubishis and Mahindras.

 

[Stephen]

Mahindra & Mahindra

 

[Wyte]

After seein what RockMonkey did to his xj i think he should buy it!!