Diesel Jeep Liberty Sales Off and Running
Date 2005/6/8 23:00:00 | Topic: Liberty
| Strong sales may lead to additional diesel Jeeps
(from an official DaimlerChrysler press release)
Launch of the 2005 Jeep(R) Liberty CRD, the first diesel-powered mid-sized SUV in the U.S. market, has been met with strong customer response, with vehicles moving quickly out of dealer showrooms and into the hands of new owners.
At the end of May more than 6,000 units had been shipped to dealers, and 3,000 of those sold. Vehicles are sitting on the dealer lots an average of 23 days, about one-third the typical time.
"The 2005 Jeep Liberty diesel has gotten off to a strong start, demonstrating that there is a latent interest in modern, clean-running diesels -- an interest that we believe can be nurtured and expanded," said Jeff Bell, Vice President, Chrysler & Jeep.
Bell addressed the Motor Press Guild in Los Angeles on the challenges and opportunities of selling diesel passenger vehicles in the U.S. market.
Bell said that many Americans think of diesel as smelly, smoky, loud and dirty, an image built in part on memory of 1970s diesel technology. "The major obstacle to increasing the sales of diesel-powered passenger vehicles in the U.S. is the notion that diesel is an old, inefficient technology," Bell said.
DaimlerChrysler launched the Jeep Liberty CRD, along with the Mercedes- Benz E 320 cdi diesel luxury sedan, to test the U.S. consumer response to diesel and to change the image of diesel among U.S. consumers.
"The Jeep Liberty CRD is helping to dispel the myths about diesel technology. And that's because, most importantly it is a clean-running, common-rail diesel, with the latest Jeep technologies and benefits," Bell said.
"Most definitely, this is not your father's loud, smoky, sluggish diesel."
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