while on the subject of sales levels, can someone address the following... when the Liberty came to market a few years ago, the Wrangler jumped in price several grand. Does anyone else agree that there was no merit for the price jump? I asked a long-time Jeep dealer a few months ago, and he knew exactly what I was talking about. And concurred, he had no good explanation. So, the marketing guys won back then, I figure, and got the Wrangler sticker boosted way up, while no content was increased. It was the same vehicle, much higher price. So I continue to wonder why Wranglers sell at all. I just ran the configurator at jeep.com and configured a $32K Rubicon. Are they nuts?

It appears Jeep was not alone in the November sales slump...

From TheCarConnection.Com

"General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. continued to lose market share during November as overall sales of new cars and trucks dropped nearly 3 percent. GM reported that sales dropped 12 percent last month despite a widely-publicized "Lock N' Roll" merchandising campaign that guaranteed buyers a low interest rate on second vehicle purchase in the future. The take rate on the campaign was relatively disappointing, GM officials acknowledged. Ford, meanwhile, reported a 7-percent drop in sales even though several of its new products such the 2005 Ford Mustang and new Ford Five Hundred sedan had begun to reach showrooms. The Chrysler Group,Toyota and Nissan, however, all enjoyed a bullish month. Chrysler Group sales were up 9 percent; Toyota's sales increased 8.8 percent and Nissan's jumped almost 30 percent, according to the company's sales reports. Kia and Hyundai also posted sales increases last month as did Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Subaru. Mitsubishi, Porsche, Mazda and Audi saw their sales drop last month."

The Grand Cherokee numbers make perfect sense. If I was in the market for a grand last month, I surely would want to wait and see a review or two before I plunked down the money for a '05. Most consumers would rather have the latest and greatest models but in the information age, they will wait to make sure it's any good.

The drop in Grand Cherokee sales isn't just because of the changeover to a new model... the new model suffers from a Frankenstein style, an awful cheap looking dash plastics, seats that don't feel as good as the 04's and high gas prices. To mix round front end and angular rear end styles, dash plastics that don't look as good as the outgoing model in the gas price environemnt is why the $1000 incentives on GC are already being mailed to current jeep owners - I have been mailed 3 sets of GC brochures and incentive packages, all unsolicited. Went to look at the 05 GC's - loads of them sitting on my area dealer lots for 2 months now, slow sellers, almost no traffic looking for GC's. Too bad, had high hopes for a better GC. Looks like DC thought a "Hemi" option alone would sell the GC.

Not very surprised over the #'s. Most people are still looking for "deals" on grand cherokees...hopefully December is different for jeep sales!!!!

I don't know if anyone has caught this article from thecarconnection.com...

...Tom LaSorda, Chrysler Group chief operating officer, has confirmed that the group now plans to build a replacement for its compact Neon at the company's assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill... ...Union sources, meanwhile, said the proposed build at Belvidere will include at three distinct vehicles including one that has been designed to carry the Jeep badge...

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=7809

Jeep Compass/Scout maybe?

I might not go that far... But the dealers up here in the detroit area.. There isn't much traffic. There is really no incentives on the new grand.. But then again there are no incentives on the the 300 and dealers can't keep them on the lot.. I guess maybe if they would have came out with 7-passenger seating from the get go, then there would have been more interest... The fact that the grand's have just hit the lot are false.. They have been on the lots up here for 2 months.. From the sales people I talk to.. There just isn't the interest at the moment. They say the people that do look at them aren't too impresed or they comment on how it sorta looks like an explorer--but the explorer has 7-passenger seating. Time will only tell.. But I hope they do start to take off.. That is the bread and butter for jeep on bringing in the money.. The wrangler is an Icon of the brand.. but the grand brings in the money.

Just by looking in the archives of this site:
Year Jeep sales Grnd Chk sales
1996 509k 279k

1999 554k 300k
2000 494k 271k
2001 471k 223k
2002 454k 221k
2003 435k 202k
2004 420k (est) 175k (est)

Only one model is responsible for this drop, the grand
cherokee. In 1999 they peeked at 300k. this year they
are about 175k. Maybe the new grand will reverse this
trend, but it also may be that the days of jeep selling
300k of any one model are gone.

kjnv,
plus the liberty is a manual transfer case.. not some electronic system that will have problems in the future.

here is my comment I agree with Jon...no WOW factor for the new Grand. 7 passenger seating is way overdue. Take off the front of the Grand and the tailights, replace them with the new Durango parts and you have another Durango...yuck! I'll hang on to my 96 Grand with 150K on it a little longer. Jeep, we are ripe for the picking, but this redesign won't get us. Might have to buy a used one. I like the 99'-04's even more now.

Yea, because no one has ever had problems with their manual transfer case. : )

If you're thinking about the 3.7 GC Laredo, why wouldn't you go for the Liberty (also IFS) and save thousands...On the Liberty, you get the Selec-Trac, which is better than the base case on the Laredo...

The new grand cherokee hemi are sold out at our dealer. The laredo's are the only ones on the lot and we have had them for a month. We should pick up in Dec and January as 04 models are depleated. As far as the unlimited for every 10 wranglers we sell 5 unlimited's!!!

I wonder how many people are actually buying the Unlimted's. I think it was a good idea and I know most Wrangler owners agree but I wonder how many Unlimted's are selling compaired to the standard Wrangler.
The new Grands are nice. I think they will sell a bunch but since they are not radically different looking than the 04's people may not rush to by a new one. I will buy one but not until it's time to trade in my current Grand as I had planned on driving it for 4 years. If the new Grand was Rescue looking I might of been in a bigger hurry to trade. You can't say the new Grand is bad looking or a bad vehicle it's just dosen't have the "WOW" factor. Maybe that will be a good thing in the long run as it is not as trendy as some SUV's and people won't get tired of it as quick.
Jeeps do have staying power.

Down here if Florida i have not seen too many 2005 GC's in the Tampa area. I looked at one at the dealer and was not really impressed. In order to get the HEMI you have to spend WAY too much $ for all the other bells and whistles. If you want 4 wheel drive, which IMHO a Jeep is worthless without, you better mortage the house! A full sized quad cab 4x4 Dodge truck w/HEMI is cheaper that the GC for god's sake! If Jeep is smart they would offer a value package model without all the bells and whistles and include the HEMI w/basic NP231 transfer case, like the old days, for the folks that want the power but don't want empty pockets. The GC has moved into the full size price range but remained mid sized.

As far as sales slumping i think this is due to the market being flooded with too many of the same type of vehicle, and they all look pretty much the same. The GC does not stand out from the crowd anymore, only thing setting it apart is the HEMI and like i stated before you have to spend big money to get that. I too hope that the GC sales take off, if not the future of Jeep does not look good. The GC is their flagship and highest money maker, without that influx of money we will not be seeing the likes of specialty vehicles like the Rubicon and fabled pickup.

A Jeep without low range!?! What has the world come to!?! Someone end this bad dream for me. No wonder why sales have dropped. People are starting to realized what crap Jeep is trying to push off on the public claiming it off-road capable because it can crawl over a 3" rock. Jeep has gone from being a real SUV to just another wanna be soft roader.

And personally to me... Why would buy another Jeep, when I can get the same thing in a Honda but with better quality. Jeep use to sit apart because of it capability. Now, that they are just glorified mall crawlers there is no reason to buy one when the competition already has ones of higher quality. That is exactly what the public is seeing.

Also, base Laredo with the V6 is not Trail-Rated because it is only available with the Quadra-Trac I T-Case which has no low range. I would choose a Liberty with Command Trac or Select Trac over that.

That's funny you don't like the square look because that is what I thought some didn't like about the Liberty. People all liked the old square Cherokee.
I guess you can't please all the people.....

I read this about the new the grand a few lines up, and THATS IT!!! I could not put my finger on what i thought they looked like but this is the perfect one. I have seen several on the road and they are so squarish and in the front coming head on just plane ole UGLY, the side is ok and the back is tooo minivanish for my likes. Makes me like the old styles better and the Wrangler and Liberty are better styled. I drove the new GC at a jeep 101 even 3 weeks ago and its nice interior and great handling, but step outside and there is much to be desired. Hope it grows on folks......

A number of things probably caused jeep sales to decline. IMO its #1 is fuel prices were skyrocketing and people probably went for better fuel economy. Also, trade in values are horrible forcing those that want a better value to have to sell on the street. I for one went to Jeep to buy an unlimited last month. Dealer wanted to give me 3K for my 98 grand loaded which was retailing here for almost 9K. I can understand making a profit but to try and make 6K of me turned me off. The fuel prices are a bit higher and with the low trade in value and higher fuel prices im just stayin with my good ole grand and will until i sell it on the street or it dies which ever comes first.......

Here in the North East, Ive seen so many '05 GCs on the road, particularly in the last month. There have been news paper articles with excellent reviews touting every new aspect of the WK. I do see quite a few in the lots of my local area dealerships, but they seem to be selling well in the area where I live. I've seen many more '05 Grand Cherokees on the road than '05 Libertys. The '05 Wranglers are a little more difficult to distinguish driving by, but I havn't seen many at all. Now the Unlimited... '04 and '05... that is a rare site.

I could see why the Hemi would be more popular with around 115 more hp than the 3.7 and about the same gas mileage with the MDS (when driven with a light foot). At $27,000, the base model Laredo is pretty much just a bigger, more expensive Liberty. I wouldn't be surprised if people in the market chose a KJ over a base WK.

On an Unlimited note, I stopped and checked out an Unlimited Rubicon at my dealership recently. Beautiful Jeep but had a steep +30,000 price tag.

I'm not at all surprised by the low sales numbers for the Grand Cherokee. They look horrid in print and even more so in person. The Wrangler sales do surprise me though.

Most consumers would rather have the latest and greatest models but in the information age, they will wait to make sure it's any good.

Especially with all of the FUD that is being spread around about the new GC and IFS.

RubiconTrail.Net...I know what you mean......I HATE it when that happens! Another dent on my YJ y'day; Senior Citizen BACKED into the right rocker panel..nerf bar stopped her, but her bumper left a love tap...HAHA if that was a NEW ride-I'd be cryin....so true

Sales will fluctuate from month to month. If you look, both the Wrangler and Liberty's YTD numbers are UP from last year. It is very understandable that the YTD numbers on the Grand Cherokee's are down considering production of the last 2004 WJ rolled off the line on May 21, 2004 and the first 2005 WK did not begin manufacturing until August 25, 2004. That is over three months where there was no production of the Grand Cherokee. Granted, there was a surge in production at the end of the 2004 model year but not enough to cover the three months of non-production. So theoretically speaking you would expect to see sales numbers down somewhere closer to 25% not 12%.

As far as XJ's and older TJ's becoming a hot commodity, that is obvious... many Jeepers who take there vehicle off-roading may not wish to risk taking their brand new vehicle off-road. Instead they look for a slightly older model which they won't be as heartbroken about if they end up rolling it down a bank.

The below average sales may simply reflect the spiraling cost of fuel. People are electing to either keep their existing vehicles or buy more fuel efficient ones.

who is surprised about these figures? when you have 3 vehicles to offerin the ever growing suv segment (69 to be exact) there should be no complaints from the head honchos @ dc. jeep missed their window of opportunity in 99 not coming out w/ new products whe the market exploded, i.e. 7 passenger, rescue, truck, compass type vehicle. now jeep is finally getting around to introduing new products but at a snails pace....can jeep hold on?
as far as junk products and people keeping their old ones you are wrong. the competion has never been stronger and jeep has been lost in the shuffle. the 05 grand is a great vehicle but there's little difference about it than the other mid size suvs ou there...and all of you hard core jeepers only seem to want the basic willys and that's obvious because that's all you whine about. jeep has got to come up with an amazing advertising program and great rebates to bring in not only the old customer but attract the new ones that don't think of jeep as a new and exciting product. with the offering of a 7 passenger ( commander ) jeep may finally see a a SLOW return to their market share. BUT until then dc has NO one to blame for slow sales but themselves for lack of product and interest in what i believe should have been their premier product in the dc line...

It's quite obvious that most people are keeping their old Jeeps than falling for this new "garbage"......Actually in my neck o' woods the XJ and TJ i.e. Cherokee/pre' 02 Wrangler; are becoming HOT Commodities...Everybody want 'em...and are paying TOP $$ for them. The Used Dealers can't get them fast enough! '05 GC and Libertys are getting Dusty and Haggard on the lots!! WWWWWWOOOOO-HOOOOOO!