The Future of Jeep and CRD's?

BiodieselJeep.com · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 11:31 am

I know this is what you are thinking. So I thought I'd start a thread.

I heard an interesting story about the Cerberus Capital group on NPR. Aparently, they are fairly ruthless, success-driven and don't put up with stragglers.

Link here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10193323

Expect lay-offs and outsourcing, and brand contraction. What does this means for Jeep? I don't know, since they are making money, they might do very little. But that is not likely, with these kinds of take-overs everything changes.

Chime in...

techTim · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 12:23 pm

I like that they are named for the three headed hound that guards the gates of hell.....

MightyCRD · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 12:33 pm

I would like to see the Jeep brand concentrate more strongly on a smaller lineup with better quality - much the way Honda has been succeeding for years. Few models, very refined and constant improvement instead of constant change .... something like this:

Liberty (or equivalent) - smaller, lower cost Jeep, but with lots of capability and quality. Nothing entry-level but the price!

Wrangler / Wrangler Unlimited - no description needed, but why not - the bad-nasty do-it-all off road king. In two sizes.

Wrangler-based truck - because the back seat in the Wrangler is worthless anyway!

Grand Cherokee - the Cadillac of off-road - able to tackle most obstacles, and still be excellent for on-road / day to day transportation.

Maybe this new investment company will decide that they don't need the Compass & even the Patriot - go back to the roots / core business of Jeep building stout, reliable, unbeatable 4x4s for the masses! No more crossovers that are cars with a Jeep nameplate & little to no ability compared to the vehicles of old ....

Not trying to knock the Compass or the Patriot, but the Compass platform is a car ... the Patriot could be cool if the motor were facing the right way - very reminiscent of the XJ, which I still miss & love ....

Anyway, I'm done dreaming now!

retmil46 · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 1:03 pm

Yep, everything I've heard so far is that their method of "turning around" a company is by agressive cost-cutting.

In other words, more layoffs, more plant closings, cheaper parts, may even come to the point that the Jeeps are labeled "Hecho En Mexico".

Gut feeling is it's going to get worse before it (if ever) gets better.

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 1:13 pm

Agreed the standard turn around is cost cutting and selling parts.

One of the comments on cost cutting was that the last round positioned Chrysler for production capacity of 13% of the market - and the commentators were thinking 10% was a better target, so more to come.

The big test will be how the union contracts play out.

fresh8fly · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 2:30 pm

no expert here, but the company that bought chrysler recently bought a company that i have close ties to...bluebird school buses. what i saw from the change seems to be all positive. there were no jobs cut with bluebird that i'm aware of. the company is a very quiet company not being very vocal, but they are not at all afraid of spending money. they have dumped a ton of $$$ into bluebird and seems to be doing some very exciting things in the future. they are very smart, but quiet. take it for what it is worth. if they do the same thing they are doing with my school buses...i am excited for chrysler

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Wed May 16, 2007 3:43 pm

fresh8fly wrote:

no expert here, but the company that bought chrysler recently bought a company that i have close ties to...bluebird school buses. what i saw from the change seems to be all positive. there were no jobs cut with bluebird that i'm aware of. the company is a very quiet company not being very vocal, but they are not at all afraid of spending money. they have dumped a ton of $$$ into bluebird and seems to be doing some very exciting things in the future. they are very smart, but quiet. take it for what it is worth. if they do the same thing they are doing with my school buses...i am excited for chrysler

This is the kind of thing I have heard as well. They don't focus on the borrow against it, break it up into pieces, sell it practices of many others. They have union support and have promised that they will not lay off more than the 13,000 that were planned before they entered the picture. I have heard that they are ruthless with upper management and the board of directors.

jinstall · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 9:01 am

back to yuor question the CRD is alive, STRONG and well in the rest of the world except the USA.

KJbob · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 9:27 am

Cowcatcher wrote:

fresh8fly wrote:

no expert here, but the company that bought chrysler recently bought a company that i have close ties to...bluebird school buses. what i saw from the change seems to be all positive. there were no jobs cut with bluebird that i'm aware of. the company is a very quiet company not being very vocal, but they are not at all afraid of spending money. they have dumped a ton of $$$ into bluebird and seems to be doing some very exciting things in the future. they are very smart, but quiet. take it for what it is worth. if they do the same thing they are doing with my school buses...i am excited for chrysler

This is the kind of thing I have heard as well. They don't focus on the borrow against it, break it up into pieces, sell it practices of many others. They have union support and have promised that they will not lay off more than the 13,000 that were planned before they entered the picture. I have heard that they are ruthless with upper management and the board of directors.

I've heard the same things about this company.

With change comes both good and bad. But if the intent is to make Chrysler a solid company with a reputation for quality (so that it can take on Toyota, Honda, etc. in earnest), then ALL parties involved have to be willing to do whatever it takes to achieve this objective.

Whether we like it or not, we compete in a world economy.

alljeep · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 12:03 pm

So what happens to the Grand Cherokee now receiving the MB V6 diesel??? Are there only going to be a few hundred of these things built now?

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

I had read prior to the sell-off of Chrysler that DCX was only going to release 500 or so 3.0 CDI's for Grand Cherokees, due to high demand in their E320, ML320 and RL series with the CDI engine. I would be surprised if even half that many are made now. Why would they sell their engine to what is now a competitor that they own a minority interest in? Especially now that they are selling all they can make in their own higher profit vehicles.

DarbyWalters · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 6:08 pm

Still yet another reason the KJ CRD was a good decision to buy! :lol:

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

That's a thought Darby. With business relationships between Chrysler and Daimler likely at an all time low, you have to wonder what the odds are that Chrysler will be licensing BlueTec anytime soon for Liberty's. We may own the only Liberty CRD's on the market for a while.

BiodieselJeep.com · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 7:24 pm

Wait, who owns how much of VM? I mean, the CRD KJ's and JK's going to Europe has the VM in it, and that was the plan for the new KK also?

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

Chrysler used to own 49%. It isn't the engine that's the issue - getting the NOx down to EPA 07 specs is the issue - so far, haven't seen anything in production yet but SCR that will meet the spec on any diesel larger than 2.2 liters.

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Thu May 17, 2007 8:21 pm

I thought the new V6 VM was OK on NOx.

Ranger1 · **Joined:** Mon Oct 17, 2005 7:40 pm **Posts:** 1137

The newer emissions control (SCR) is all downstream of the engine. If Daimler licensed it to Chrysler, then VM Motori engines should be able to use it. If not, it looks like Daimler can ask whatever they want for it. I would think they would eventually license it, after they have built their own base of diesel sales in the U.S.

KJMedic · **Posted:** Fri May 18, 2007 1:06 pm

I read somewhere that one of the boardmembers was a former boardmember at VW. If this is correct then maybe we will be seeing more diesel's in Jeep.

The Future of Jeep and CRD's?

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