The Toledo Blade is reporting that by 2012, either the Jeep Liberty or the Dodge Nitro will be phased out, according to Steven Landry, vice president of North American sales:

"If you put sales of Liberty and Nitro together, it's doing what we want it to do," Mr. Landry said while discussing the poor August sales of the two vehicles.

"As we move toward 2012, we won't have this dual branding," Mr. Landry said, citing a previously announced effort to scale back the automaker's offerings. "That's when we'll just come back with one branded body of those particular vehicles, instead of two."

Experts generally expect the Nitro would be the vehicle to be dumped and, in the past, said they anticipated it would happen before 2012.

via Mike's Jeep News

I would hope it is the Liberty that survives.

I read that it most likely will be the Liberty. It has name recognition having been around since 2002 and would take less advertising to continue the brand as opposed to the Nitro which is still fairly new and unknown. Besides the Liberty looks better.

I would hope it is the Liberty that survives.

Ditto. It's the newest of the two.

Not really a major suprise... The Nitro was first released in 2007 so a 5 year run to 2011-2012 isn't bad. Chrysler has always had an issue with producing too many nearly identical vehicles IMO.

I think the Nitro is ugly. I always see them with the 20 inch wheels, lots of bling. I hate that low hanging front bumper.

Maybe they should do what they did with the Grand Cherokee - kill the Nitro, keep the Liberty and have an SRT Liberty for the gang bangers :)

It's going to be close; because with the Durango death coming soon, and having the Cherokee being about the same size as the Liberty.. I still think the Liberty will stay, just due to styling preferences by customers. Basically, I don't see NEARLY as many Nitros' as Libertys.

We never sat in a Liberty, but my boyfriend couldn't even CLOSE to fit in the Nitro; and he fits in the Patriot fine.. if you're going to have a big vehicle, let said vehicle fit people taller than 5'4" fit in it.

Not really a major surprise... The Nitro was first released in 2007 so a 5 year run to 2011-2012 isn't bad. Chrysler has always had an issue with producing too many nearly identical vehicles IMO.

Exactly why they killed the Jeep Comanche.I don't think the decision to keep the Liberty or Nitro will be based on name recognition, but rather where the sales numbers lie anb what the profit margins are.

I think the Nitro is ugly. I always see them with the 20 inch wheels, lots of bling. I hate that low hanging front bumper.

Maybe they should do what they did with the Grand Cherokee - kill the Nitro, keep the Liberty and have an SRT Liberty for the gang bangers :)





hahahahah srt liberty for gangbangers.

I vote for the Liberty. BTW, very few Liberty sightings here...

2809

I vote for the Liberty. BTW, very few Liberty sightings here...



I took a recent trip from the Dallas area to Lubbock and back and I saw 3 to 4 times as many Liberty's (the new body style) as Patriots or Compasses. They're pretty popular in Texas.

Kill both and bring back the Cherokee? But if not, I like Liberty

the nitro is slightly bigger than the liberty. the suspension is is slightly different and tuned for the street, not all-road ability like the liberty. if they were to offer a srt liberty ment only for the street everyone would be happy. if they dont offer a street tuned liberty and kill the nitro they will lose customers. there any many peopl, like myself, that buy suvs for cargo capacity not off road ability.

Kill both and bring back the Cherokee? But if not, I like Liberty

For Chrysler, the Patriot is the new Cherokee. And keep in mind that in the international market the Liberty is still called Cherokee.

Don't get me wrong as a Jeep fan, I'd rather see the Liberty, hell, I'd even give my blessing for whatever it is worth to renaming it the Cherokee, but let's face it, the sales numbers and profit margins are going to decide this, not nice sentiment and fandom.

Around these parts I see more Nitros than I do Pats and Libbys combined. We have three in the parking at work.

Me I hope the Nitro goes.

The Liberty in my mind will always sell more units than the Nitro.
Yes both from the same plant/platform etc... But the Liberty has got a low range capability and the Nitro zip zero. Both with the same engines, auto etc... Plus a bigger following and history with the Liberty. Alot of press releases here have stated that the Cherokee(Liberty) is a do or die for Jeep in AU. It accounts for a third of all sales here.

I have a Patriot and another member of the household has one of the new Liberty's as a work vehicle and I like it, but I like my Patriot more. The Liberty sits nice and high but I guess I got used to my 4-cyl FWD machine :) I hope they keep the Liberty over the Nitro though, the Liberty was first and name goes well with what the USA is all about.

Liberty/patriot/commader stlying is so similar, it would be great if they put a patriot like grille and headlights on a liberty, give it the original flavor. I think it would sale better.

Liberty/patriot/commader stlying is so similar, it would be great if they put a patriot like grille and headlights on a liberty, give it the original flavor. I think it would sale better.

I agree it took me forever to figure out which truck was which when looking at them from the profile. The ass end and front it's not as bad, but the side lines are so much alike.

Chryco has a way of competing with itself on top of other makers. Think back on the many models that only had badges to distinguish which brand/model it was. The dodge caravan/plymouth voyager/chrysler town and country are all the same. They compete with the likes of other brands as well as with each other. Its all too common with Chryco.

Nowhere near as bad as GM.

The only car that GM has put out in the past 10 or so years that looks even vaguely appealing is the 2009 Camaro, and that's technically not out yet.

Well, that's not completely true. I do like the Saturn Sky, but Saturn's not the first car line you think of when you think GM.

Nowhere near as bad as GM.

I agree, being as though they have more brands. But I still find it funny that the big 3 compete against themselves and wonder why sales are bad sometimes. Basically I would love to see dodge as the performance/work truck brand, jeep as the SUV/offroad brand, and chrysler as the luxary/car brand. Making zero similar re-branded models. That would be nice.

The only car that GM has put out in the past 10 or so years that looks even vaguely appealing is the 2009 Camaro, and that's technically not out yet.

Well, that's not completely true. I do like the Saturn Sky, but Saturn's not the first car line you think of when you think GM.

I have never liked anything GM has come out with. Never liked the look and fell of the exterior/interior, nor have I ever enjoyed driving any GM product.