The 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee is the 13th best selling automobile in the US for the first 4 months of the year:

RANK      VEHICLE                1999       1998      '98 RANK  1.  Ford F-Series pickup        289,373    248,548        1  2.  Chevrolet Silverado pickup  198,397    191,405        2  3.  Toyota Camry                141,890    106,227        7  4.  Ford Ranger pickup          139,557     96,761       10  5.  Ford Explorer               132,287    120,904        5  6.  Dodge Ram pickup            131,138    122,302        4  7.  Honda Accord                129,389    125,863        3  8.  Ford Taurus                 111,256    119,056        6  9.  Dodge Caravan               106,153     98,166        9  10. Chevrolet Cavalier          102,861     94,060       11  11. Honda Civic                  97,365    105,909        8  12. Ford Escort                  94,158     88,140       12  13. Jeep Grand Cherokee          89,853     75,695       14  14. Toyota Corolla               78,629     73,919       16  15. Pontiac Grand Am             76,692     49,432       NA  16. Ford Windstar                75,379     59,634       NA  17. Ford Expedition              73,120     62,601       20  18. Chevrolet S-Series pickup    71,421     85,098       13  19. Saturn*                      70,654     74,578       15  20. Chevrolet Malibu             66,745     72,089       17      * Includes sales of EV1 electric cars.        

The Toledo Blade had an interesting article about which area of the country had the highest concentration of Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers. While Lima, Ohio (a few dozen miles south of Toledo) has the lowest concentration, Colorado's Boulder/Longmont area has the highest (based on registered vehicles). Just under 3 percent of the Boulder/Longmont area's vehicles are Cherokees and Wranglers.

According to the article:

Roughly 2,000 miles east of Boulder in the Barnstable/Yarmouth area of Massachusetts, college women home for the summer are particularly fond of Wranglers, making April the start of the annual ``teeny bopper'' season, said a Jeep salesman in the resort area snuggling Cape Cod Bay.

``The first thing they do is go to daddy and tell him they want a Wrangler,'' said Phil Ahlgren, a salesman at E.H. Corson, Inc., in Hyannis, Mass.

Cherokees, he said, are kept by local families for a decade or more, which adds to the depth of the area's registrations.

The Barnstable/Yarmouth area had a 1.98 per cent concentration of Cherokees and Wranglers, the highest east of the Mississippi River and No. 7 overall.

``Everybody likes to go out on the beach with their Jeeps,'' Mr. Ahlgren said. ``People tend to hang onto them.''

The article also mentioned the upcoming redesign of the 2001 Cherokee:

Meanwhile, most Jeep salespeople look forward to marketing in 2001 a replacement for the Cherokee, a not-yet-unveiled SUV to be made at a $600 million factory being built off Stickney Avenue.

That upcoming Jeep is expected to boost sales, but some fans are leery about how far the new look will go.

The Cherokee's boxiness, which many describe as antiquated, is desired in Richmond, said Mr. West of Haynes Jeep.

``People still like that classic look and hope they continue on with that vehicle,'' he said. ``We want it to stay like it is.''