D-C might become just D and C.

They will use platinum in thier 'teef'.

Carl

Well, Ford does have their "A" plan... :-)

Here ya go...except water cooled:

Lift kit is on it's way. Factory rear manual locker! My neighbor has a Harley V Twin he got for free, I asked him if he could drop it into the Mule, but I would probably get death threats with a Harley-powered Kawasaki...

That would REALLY suck, Damlier Chrysler is bad enough, if Toyota buys Jeep that will be it for me and Jeep.

Jeff DeWitt

Ken F>

Nissan, Honda and Toyota seem to manage with US autoworkers.

Jeff DeWitt

Earle Hort> What I saw on the network news is that you have to pay U.S. autoworkers too

it is my belief that for jeep to ever be a successful, stand-alone company they must do two things:

1- downsize 2- return to their roots

lets face it, jeep heritage is built on _one_ aspect alone. off-road capability. when they water down their name by using it to sell soft-roaders they also water down their heritage. it is my belief that if they dumped their entire current lineup and sold only two vehicles:

1- TJ 2- XJ

they could sell enough to remain profitable. its this expansion into yuppie-ville (commander, compass, patriot, liberty, etc.) that has gotten them into trouble.

.....since this will never happen and a parent company is inevitable, id like to see ford acquire it. ford has more invested in the original jeep heritage than the current day jeep. at least the ford motor company is the same company it was back when they were building jeeps. jeep went from willys to kaiser to amc to chrysler and now to who knows.

is there any wonder why? i was planning to purchase another 1 ton 4x4 dually for a service truck. both the f350 and the comparable chevy were over $45,000. absolutely ridiculous. im going to get the wifey a new yuppie-ride instead, and just take her '04.5 dodge.

All the good manufacturing jobs are now overseas. Greedy and corrupt union officials ensured that the remaining workers could no longer afford to buy American made products... We will disregard that the American manufacturers designed products to self destruct the day after the warranty expired.

We have met the enemy and he is us......

Jeep used an odd firing 6 cylinder for years, why not join with a company that makes odd-firing motorcycle engines?

A Harley rider might have 7 teeth...

The good manufacturing jobs are overseas because the cost of living in the US is so high, coupled with the fact that most Americans expect cheap prices for all goods, including vehicles. It's hard to produce a quality/cheap vehicle when a company spends more in wages than they receive in profits.

I'm not be> All the good manufacturing jobs are now overseas. Greedy and corrupt union

Montana

I agree that if anybody should have it, it is Ford. Another posibility is getting Mahindra CJ3Bs from India.

Canadian too. Maybe the owners negotiate better than the Germans who own DC. I tend to blame UAW, but maybe the locals where the plants are located got too greedy with the property taxes, municipal fees and general cost of living.

Earle

>

snip

It's hard to produce

Most (all??) manufacturing companies spend way more on wages than profits. A typical second tier supplier (one that only makes parts from OEM prints) in the automotive industry might have wages in the 20% range, benefits in the 15% range, materials in 30% range, plant, machines, and other overhead in the 25% range, net profit under 10%. Note that the cost components of those numbers add to 100%, to make a profit you need to squeeze something.

Matt,

A Jeep by Microsoft would refuse to work after you had changed any tyres or any ancilliaries on the grounds that it wasn't the same car that you initially registered with them. After 2 oil changes, it would refuse to work as you had serviced it too many times. It would claim that it worked ok on

8" wheels, but that 18" wheels were better. Other people would be able to easily hack into your alarm system and lock you out for good. The engine would stop while you were driving it as it had downloaded an update from the last petrol station unbeknownst to you. It would take 10 minutes to switch off and 20 minutes to start. Your radio would introduce static as you couldn't prove you were NOT violating Digital Rights Management by listening to it. Your Sat Nav would ask "where do you want to go today" in an annoying voice and then take you were it wanted to go. And so on, and so forth !

Dave Milne, Scotland '99 TJ, '91 Grand Wagoneer, mumble LandRover Discovery 2 ES mumble.

I agree, but they should also consider a smaller vehicle more like the original Jeep, a simple, basic, relatively inexpensive go anywhere little Jeep ... and ALL Jeeps should be able to do the Rubicon.

Jeff DeWitt

Nathan >> For Jeep to be a successful company all on it's own I think it would

Yep, but as you may have noticed GM is offering a 100k mile warranty. I think GM is close to turning the corner if they haven't done so already.

Jeff DeWitt

Will H>