No Pickup/ No Diesel

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

I recently had a conversation with someone who retired after about 30 years in auto business with the last 12 or so with Chrysler management. He left about 6 mos after Cerberus took over the company.

I don’t know the guy that well, but we have fly fished together several times and he has ridden with me in the CRD to get to the streams. We have talked during the drives about the CRD and lack of a pickup in the Jeep line, among other things. Here is his take (and I suspect he is/was in a position to know) about a jeep pickup (Comanche?) and small diesel engines.

He said that there will NEVER be a pickup in the Jeep line as long as there is a Dodge Dakota. He remarked that he had been in meetings where the pickup issue was discussed and noted that it was the general consensus of the management team that each Jeep pickup sale is simply one that would replace a Dakota sale. There is general agreement that the Jeep pickup would simply be internal competition and not worth the effort for Chrysler as there is no gain and in fact there would be a loss due to development costs. I brought up the Nitro/Liberty combination as a counter to that argument and he said that the executives knew (know?) that the Nitro would be a loser, but that the company was so desperate for Dodge sales that anything which might sell was worth the try. He said that (at the time) SUVs were the cash cows of the auto business and it was felt that there was so much profit in an SUV that it might just have been profitable to sell the Nitro, but that a Jeep pickup would be a loss for Dodge and unless Chrysler breaks up and Jeep goes on its own there will never be a Comanche again.

As far as diesels in SUV/Small Pickups he was not very hopeful either. He stated that Chrysler was “stunned” by the response to the CRD and was caught flat footed by the demand, but had not made “good” decisions concerning the model. He said that it was actually the dealers who pushed back against the CRD. They did not want to invest the money and time into tools and techs needed to keep a large number of diesels in service. It is generally known to Chrysler execs that the poor knowledge base and experience in the service dept of dealers was the biggest problem for the CRD. Because of the dealer issue there will not be a small diesel in the near future. He noted that the decision to only sell a diesel in the Gr. Cherokee was meant to “sweeten” the pot for the dealers as there is huge profit in the GC (compared to the Liberty), but that plan fell flat as very very few GC CRD were sold near MSRP due to the very high sticker price and that the 10k discount that had to be offered to move the GC CRD killed any additional profit that the dealers may have gotten from a diesel. I asked about the Dodge trucks/Sprinters which are sold and why that makes sense if the dealer has to invest in the tools and techs. He said that there are several factors which make it work for the dealers: there really is extra profit in the diesels, the “tough” image of the diesels helps the Dodge line, there is “consistency” in the engine from year to year and techs can learn over time.
So, based on what this guy says (and I am only repeating it, not giving my knowledge of the issues as I have none) it appears there is little chance of either a pickup or diesel.

jinstall · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 8:48 pm

I take this with a grain of salt. The fact that they build everything with a diesel engine outside of the US, sometimes 2 different ones, I find this hard to believe. The market is there and the vehicles are being produced but they are not being delivered tot eh US.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:45 pm

jinstall wrote:

I take this with a grain of salt. The fact that they build everything with a diesel engine outside of the US, sometimes 2 different ones, I find this hard to believe. The market is there and the vehicles are being produced but they are not being delivered tot eh US.

You are correct. I think it comes down to the EPA being a real pain in the posterior.

I think all manufacturers would offer more diesels like they do all over the world if there wasn't so much legislation in place to stifle them.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 2:42 am

Let me quote some interesting information.

* Nissan and Renault launch joint diesel program *

"Plans for any kind of diesel-optioned passenger cars in the U.S. has been placed on hold due to U.S. emissions."

* No diesel engine for the Dodge 1500 *

"New hardware costs needed to meet new diesel regulations in all 50 states in 2010 is one reason for the delay."

* VW Golf 70 MPG Diesel Hybrid *

“The car will go on sale next year in Europe, but there’s no word yet on when the U.S. might expect to see the diesel hybrid.”

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:49 pm

I work with Waste Water Equipment and one of the tests we do to adjust and fine tune the equipment makes use of a small sample bucket.

To keep the EPA from dreaming up more regulations requiring more tests and more documentation, the official stand is to HIDE THE BUCKET when the EPA comes around.

Too bad the Auto and Truck companies can't hide their bucket too.

No Pickup/ No Diesel

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