Chrysler Kills the Jeep Commander
Bloomberg reports that Chrysler is finally going to execute the Jeep Commander. The Commander is/was the retro-styled (i.e. brick-shaped) gas-guzzling SUV whose packaging had RF proclaiming "Thanks to a foot well that's shallower than the British Royal family's gene pool, even polypeptide deficient three-year-olds sitting in the way back run the risk of giving themselves a pair of shiners with their knees (try explaining THAT to social services)." Jeep introduced the Commander,in 2005– just in time for the start of the fuel crisis. The slightly stretched and rebodied Grand Cherokee was supposed to give Chrysler an inroad to the three-row SUV market. Instead, it languished on the lots, selling only 88.5k in 2006. In 2007, sales dropped 29 percent. So far this year, sales are down 43 percent (large SUV sales are down 28 percent overall). Time of death: mid-2009. Tag it and bag it.
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The Aspen needs to be euthanized ASAP.
And I always thought if the Commander was compact it would make a good modern Jeep Cherokee. A name Chrysler never should have dropped, even if the Liberty looks like a neo-Cherokee and it wears the name overseas.
Dump the Commander, Liberty, Compass, Patriot. Keep the Wrangler and recreate the Cherokee with a strong low revving 6 cylinder. Keep the Grand Cherokee and make it the luxury large Jeep. Stop trying to be everything to everyone - Jeeps have terrible road handling and gas mileage (bad for the soccer moms and sucker in the image conscious) sans the regadged neon derived hatches.
They are going to have to retain at least some of the four cylinder cars to meet their CAFE averages. I like the little Compass but it sould have been marketed as a Dodge or Chrylser not a Jeep. With the Gov't forcasting $3.75 a gal this spring with $4 spikes, I think all car makers are going to have to retain some MPG friendly vehicles whatever their types. I think it is time to bring back a Neon (possibly under a different name). Give us a sedan, a 3-door hatch, 5-door hatch, and a small wagon. Maybe a convertible ala Opel Tigra. They ought to concentrate on durability though.