Poor Jeep Showing in Initial Quality Rankings, Fewer Jeep Layoffs Than Planned

Our beloved Jeep brand didn't fare all that well, ranking 4th from last, down 3 places from last year's results.

RANK/MAKE           1999 problems            1998 rank  ----------------------------------------------------------   1. Jaguar               110                       4   2. Buick                114                      16   3. Infiniti             118                       3   4. Acura                124                       5   5. BMW                  125                       2   6. Lexus                131                       1   7. Toyota               135                      13   8. Honda                137                       9   9. Cadillac             139                       7  10. Chrysler             148                      21  11. Nissan               149                      14  12. Lincoln              150                       8  13. Mercedes-Benz        151                      10  14. Volvo                155                      11  15. Porsche              164                       6  15. Plymouth             164                      29  17. Audi                 167                      18  17. Mazda                167                      25  INDUSTRY AVERAGE         167                     176  19. Ford                 169                      17  20. Saturn               171                      14  20. Saab                 171                      23  22. Subaru               173                      20  23. Oldsmobile           174                      21  24. Dodge                175                      24  25. Mercury              185                      12  25. Pontiac              185                      29  27. Chevrolet            192                      26  28. Hyundai              194                      35  29. GMC                  199                      27  29. Mitsubishi           199                      32  31. Land Rover           200                      19  32. Daewoo*              216                      NA  33. Volkswagen           223                      28  34. Jeep                 234                      31  35. Isuzu                242                      36  36. Suzuki               299                      34  37. Kia  * small sample                  333                      NA  

On the other hand, The Toledo Blade is reporting that due to fantastic sales of the Jeep brand in the past few months, the Jeep plants in Toledo, Ohio will not be shutting down for less than half of their normal 8 weeks this summer.

Better-than-expected Jeep sales will add up to shorter layoffs for employees at DaimlerChrysler AG's Toledo assembly plant.

Original plans called for the production of Toledo-built Wranglers and Cherokees to be halted for up to eight weeks scattered through the year, beginning this month.

Most of the plant's 4,800 hourly workers would have been laid off.

But now, the first down week isn't scheduled until June 28, and plans call for production to be suspended for half as long as originally expected, according to plant officials.

"We're extremely pleased that market conditions have allowed us to continue to build Jeeps when we thought we wouldn't be able to," said Edward Mercer, plant manager.

"All in all, the majority of workers are pleased because sales are doing good," said union leader Joe Depowski, who is United Auto Workers Local 12 chairman at the plant.

Mr. Mercer said the car maker has buyers for 1999 Wranglers and Cherokees to be built between now and the end of the model year June 28.

Production of year-2000 models will begin when workers return from a two-week vacation July 19.