frosty
12-20-2006, 08:05 AM
The Jeep Patriot, the last of the three new vehicles slated for Belvidere’s Chrysler assembly plant, goes into retail production today, not a minute too soon according to analysts who believe it may turn out to be Belvidere’s best-seller.
Dealers and Jeep enthusiasts have waited through production delays for the Patriot, which is expected to push the Jeep line forward by returning to its roots.
“The Patriot is potentially the star at that plant,” said John Wolkonowicz, senior analyst at Massachusetts-based Global Automotive Group, of the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot combination being put together by the 3,600 workers in Belvidere.
“(The Patriot) has the classic Jeep look like the old Jeep Cherokee with really good fuel economy, and a great sticker price. I can’t find anything bad to say about it.”
The Patriot’s base price is $14,985, which is $1,000 less than the base price for the Compass and $750 more than a bare-bones Caliber.
DaimlerChrysler officials were eager to get the Patriot rolling out the 3.9 million- square-foot plant in December because it means the company delivered on its promise to launch 10 products in 2006, even though very few Patriots will reach dealerships until January.
“This is an evolution of the Cherokee in a way,” said Alexander Edwards of San Diego-based Strategic Vision, a research and consulting company. “It’s named appropriately. It’s capable both on-road and off-road. Also, it looks good so you can take it out for a tumble and then clean it up and show it off.”
Jeep discontinued the Cherokee in 2001.
Competing with Caliber
The feeling among analysts is that the Patriot can outdo the Caliber, which would be big because some analysts called the Caliber launch the best domestic car introduction in the past three years. Through November, DaimlerChrysler has sold more than 82,000 Calibers in the United States and 15,000 internationally. The only thing slowing Caliber sales so far is production. When the Jeep Compass was added to the line in May, software problems in the plant’s fully robotic body shop caused numerous shutdowns.
The computer issues held back the availability of the Caliber and Compass and delayed the Patriot’s launch from third quarter to nearly the end of the year.
John Plecha, director of Jeep marketing and global communications for DaimlerChrysler, said the delays will hurt the Patriot’s timing.
“Both the Compass and Patriot have much better gas mileage than our other Jeeps, and it would have been nice to launch them when gas was $3.20 a gallon,” Plecha said. “But we think gas savings are still top-of-mind for buyers.”
The jury is still out on the Compass. With its rounded features and the fact that it has no versions that can be taken off-road, the Compass strays far from Jeep’s past models. Since making it to dealers in July, the model has racked up 14,500 sales worldwide. The fact that the Compass hit lots during the height of this year’s incentive wars didn’t help matters. Its base price was meant to draw younger, more urban buyers, but Jeep’s offer of $2,500 to $3,500 cash back on the Commander, Liberty and Grand Cherokee might have caused some buyers initially interested in the more affordable Compass to move up to a more elaborate vehicle.
Plecha said the Compass is serving its purpose.
“It’s selling well with women, which is what we expected. It’s bringing new kinds of buyers to our dealers,” Plecha said. “The Compass came out in a tough market for a new product. The incentives were very aggressive this year. The fact we’ll sell 4,000 this month in a tough market means we’ll be able to do even better when it’s peace time (in the price wars).”
Plecha said the Patriot also will bring new buyers to the Jeep line.
“The Patriot is looking for the more traditional Jeep buyer, it’s more male-skewed,” he said. “The price will bring in the younger buyer. Jeep owners are extremely loyal, as we’ve all seen with the Wrangler. The Compass and the Patriot will help us bring more buyers into the Jeep fold.”
Brand expansion
This year has all been about expanding the Jeep name. In 2004, DaimlerChrysler was selling three Jeeps — Wrangler, Liberty and Grand Cherokee. In 2005, the company added the Commander for upper-end, large SUV shoppers. In 2006, the company introduced the Patriot, Compass and a larger version of the Wrangler, the four-door Wrangler Unlimited. The Liberty is scheduled for a makeover in 2007.
The returns were mixed for 2006. Through November, the company had sold 413,965 Jeeps in the U.S., a 2.2 percent drop from November 2005. While Commander and Compass have added nearly 95,000 sales, Wrangler sales are down 2.7 percent, the Liberty is off 18.5 percent and the Grand Cherokee plunged 34.2 percent.
Even with those numbers, Jeep has performed better than the Chrysler Group as a whole, which has seen sales fall 7.7 percent from 2005.
“The (Jeep) brand was stuck on three products for years,” Plecha said. “We’ll now have seven diverse products. Some for die-hards. Some for buyers that wouldn’t have looked at Jeep before. We’re excited about 2007.”
So are dealers. Roger Krahenbuhl, owner of Krahenbuhl Chrysler-Jeep Inc. in Rochelle, said customers have been eager to see the Patriot for several months and are showing more confidence in DaimlerChrysler’s overall lineup.
“They are definitely better positioned going into 2007 than they were for 2006,” Krahenbuhl said. “They were too heavy in the bigger car and SUV markets, now they have moved beyond that, and they did it pretty quickly.”
Edwards agrees.
“The (Dodge) Caliber and the Charger have been leaders in many of our quality metrics this year,” Edwards said. “The Patriot appears to be as strong or stronger as those two. It’s always interesting to see how companies do when they are down. Chrysler and (General Motors) clearly are out of the resting phase and focused on improving the product. Next year looks very good for both.”
Dealers and Jeep enthusiasts have waited through production delays for the Patriot, which is expected to push the Jeep line forward by returning to its roots.
“The Patriot is potentially the star at that plant,” said John Wolkonowicz, senior analyst at Massachusetts-based Global Automotive Group, of the Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass and Jeep Patriot combination being put together by the 3,600 workers in Belvidere.
“(The Patriot) has the classic Jeep look like the old Jeep Cherokee with really good fuel economy, and a great sticker price. I can’t find anything bad to say about it.”
The Patriot’s base price is $14,985, which is $1,000 less than the base price for the Compass and $750 more than a bare-bones Caliber.
DaimlerChrysler officials were eager to get the Patriot rolling out the 3.9 million- square-foot plant in December because it means the company delivered on its promise to launch 10 products in 2006, even though very few Patriots will reach dealerships until January.
“This is an evolution of the Cherokee in a way,” said Alexander Edwards of San Diego-based Strategic Vision, a research and consulting company. “It’s named appropriately. It’s capable both on-road and off-road. Also, it looks good so you can take it out for a tumble and then clean it up and show it off.”
Jeep discontinued the Cherokee in 2001.
Competing with Caliber
The feeling among analysts is that the Patriot can outdo the Caliber, which would be big because some analysts called the Caliber launch the best domestic car introduction in the past three years. Through November, DaimlerChrysler has sold more than 82,000 Calibers in the United States and 15,000 internationally. The only thing slowing Caliber sales so far is production. When the Jeep Compass was added to the line in May, software problems in the plant’s fully robotic body shop caused numerous shutdowns.
The computer issues held back the availability of the Caliber and Compass and delayed the Patriot’s launch from third quarter to nearly the end of the year.
John Plecha, director of Jeep marketing and global communications for DaimlerChrysler, said the delays will hurt the Patriot’s timing.
“Both the Compass and Patriot have much better gas mileage than our other Jeeps, and it would have been nice to launch them when gas was $3.20 a gallon,” Plecha said. “But we think gas savings are still top-of-mind for buyers.”
The jury is still out on the Compass. With its rounded features and the fact that it has no versions that can be taken off-road, the Compass strays far from Jeep’s past models. Since making it to dealers in July, the model has racked up 14,500 sales worldwide. The fact that the Compass hit lots during the height of this year’s incentive wars didn’t help matters. Its base price was meant to draw younger, more urban buyers, but Jeep’s offer of $2,500 to $3,500 cash back on the Commander, Liberty and Grand Cherokee might have caused some buyers initially interested in the more affordable Compass to move up to a more elaborate vehicle.
Plecha said the Compass is serving its purpose.
“It’s selling well with women, which is what we expected. It’s bringing new kinds of buyers to our dealers,” Plecha said. “The Compass came out in a tough market for a new product. The incentives were very aggressive this year. The fact we’ll sell 4,000 this month in a tough market means we’ll be able to do even better when it’s peace time (in the price wars).”
Plecha said the Patriot also will bring new buyers to the Jeep line.
“The Patriot is looking for the more traditional Jeep buyer, it’s more male-skewed,” he said. “The price will bring in the younger buyer. Jeep owners are extremely loyal, as we’ve all seen with the Wrangler. The Compass and the Patriot will help us bring more buyers into the Jeep fold.”
Brand expansion
This year has all been about expanding the Jeep name. In 2004, DaimlerChrysler was selling three Jeeps — Wrangler, Liberty and Grand Cherokee. In 2005, the company added the Commander for upper-end, large SUV shoppers. In 2006, the company introduced the Patriot, Compass and a larger version of the Wrangler, the four-door Wrangler Unlimited. The Liberty is scheduled for a makeover in 2007.
The returns were mixed for 2006. Through November, the company had sold 413,965 Jeeps in the U.S., a 2.2 percent drop from November 2005. While Commander and Compass have added nearly 95,000 sales, Wrangler sales are down 2.7 percent, the Liberty is off 18.5 percent and the Grand Cherokee plunged 34.2 percent.
Even with those numbers, Jeep has performed better than the Chrysler Group as a whole, which has seen sales fall 7.7 percent from 2005.
“The (Jeep) brand was stuck on three products for years,” Plecha said. “We’ll now have seven diverse products. Some for die-hards. Some for buyers that wouldn’t have looked at Jeep before. We’re excited about 2007.”
So are dealers. Roger Krahenbuhl, owner of Krahenbuhl Chrysler-Jeep Inc. in Rochelle, said customers have been eager to see the Patriot for several months and are showing more confidence in DaimlerChrysler’s overall lineup.
“They are definitely better positioned going into 2007 than they were for 2006,” Krahenbuhl said. “They were too heavy in the bigger car and SUV markets, now they have moved beyond that, and they did it pretty quickly.”
Edwards agrees.
“The (Dodge) Caliber and the Charger have been leaders in many of our quality metrics this year,” Edwards said. “The Patriot appears to be as strong or stronger as those two. It’s always interesting to see how companies do when they are down. Chrysler and (General Motors) clearly are out of the resting phase and focused on improving the product. Next year looks very good for both.”