D-C might become just D and C.

Can't see why Ford would want to now that they have bought LandRover. The Defender 90 is a fairly close match for the Wrangler, the 110 for the TJL and they do a 130 1 ton pickup as well. The Discovery is probably more aimed at the ZJ but is more capable off road, and the Range Rover for those who are buying the SRT-8 or whatever.

Dave Milne, Scotland

I admire your optimism, sorta like the guy who insists the Arizona Cardinals are going to win the Super Bowl next year....

Bri'ish ca's don'' do tha' well in the states. Su'e you can ge' CEOs to buy Jagua's, bu' the off road crowd and wannabes still wan' a Jeep.

Then there's the service problem. Sure most of our Jeep Dealer Service Departments are abysmal in this regard, but they have been doing it a while and the shade tree techs are familiar with Jeeps. Think about the Jeep service and knowledge that is available to you in the typical UK shop.

Earle

um, she was driving down the road when she was hit by somone else who failed to stop before exiting a parking lot.

Yeah, I knew that. I just couldn't resist. Anyway, people buy these huge monster trucks and Suburbans (I have a Suburban myself) not just for their looks and cargo capacity, but for the belief that they are protected in case of an accident. And I have to agree with this reasoning somewhat, although the price of fuel skews things. You think there is a "yuppie-ride" that measures up now?

Earle

That's just sentimental bullshit. If they stop selling actual off-roader then there'd be a problem of "heritage". But meanwhile they're selling units to keep revenues up so they can also make the off-roaders. Can't have one without the other and this has been true for quite a while.

gotcha. :-)

my boy was sitting at the point of impact. despite all the damage to the truck, he never stopped playing his video game. although i can only get

we're going to look at h1s the next time we go down to denver, but we're also looking at new suburbans and even the god-awful h2.

one problem with your theory. the soft-roaders arent selling.

However Dave, allow me to point out that a Jeep by Microsoft would allow anyone ELSE to drive it, in particular sociopathic 12 year old script kiddies. Or in the latest edition, by anyone playing a tape of voice controls instructing the Jeep to drive away without you.

To be fair, a Linux Jeep would have a user interface that almost doesn't suck but crashes randomly over even stupider things than a Microsoft one, and for some reason none of the engineers could be bothered to read architectural standards, so the camshafts would be rotating backwards with an epicycle just because someone thought it would be TR3WLY K3WL to do so.

Dave Milne proclaimed:

Bill Kearney proclaimed:

Even though the actual percentage of Jeep owners who actually do wander off the nearest Walmart parking lot is possibly higher than for other makes, I'd be willing to bet it is still a minority of even Rubicon models that are still bought for off roading as opposed to image or necessity.

It would be nice to see Jeep make ALL models truly trailworthy, then aim them at the different market segments so they might have enough sales volume to either survive or keep the price of a basic Wrangler from hitting $100K As for off road, a Range Rover with ride height control may not be as fast in a straight line or in the twisties as an SRT8 Cherokee, but I'd bet it would get more than 20 feet off the Interstate and be able to get back...unlike the SRT8. Too bad Mercedes doesn't have a good ride height control technology, at least that way the Grands could have decent on road cruising and still have some illusion of being at least moderate trail ready.

Personally I'd like to see the non-trail models go away, but have no problem with something like an SRT6 Wrangler or SRT8 Grand that has a suspension that would allow it to survive all but possibly the most hard core trails. Street rods have done a lot for a lot lesser makes, e.g. the 396 and secret 427 El Caminos that were otherwise a piece of crap.

Nathan In Montana proclaimed:

Thats mostly because they suck compared to cute soft roaders from other makers. Seems folks CAN spot a counterfeit attempting to cash in on a brand name without the creds.

The same discussion allows that hell will freeze over before the UAW would allow anyone to even just buy the name without dealing with them first. They've offered concessions to GM and Ford, but apparently have a real hard on for DC management.

Earle Horton proclaimed:

Highcountry proclaimed:

Harley in my opinion might not be a bad idea. They may have too much involvement with Ford to convince bankers, but not fixing things that aren't broken does appear to be their business strategy.

That does a potato potato potato all the way up Lions Back. You heard it here first folks.

Clap Trap proclaimed:

All you would need is a handful of envelopes full of cash to quell an objections from the UAW Politburo.

Naw, I think they might buy into that "I'm an American and I work for Americans" line. They don't shop at Walmart, they don't play Chinese Checkers and they only eat Freedom Fries.

Earle

If the leadership at the UAW gave a .... (insert vulgarity of choice) about the country they would not....

Almost got me going there Earle... Ya know... sometimes when things had been too quiet my Dad would slip in a comment to get me going........

If that doesn't work, a convenient NFL stadium under construction....

billy ray proclaimed:

I too like the romantic notion that Jeep could be successfully spun off and back to it's "go anywhere, do anything" roots but I don't see how they could survive. High development costs against low sales volume are the thing that killed marques like Packard, Checker, Studebaker and AMC.

-- "We began to realize, as we plowed on with the destruction of New Jersey, that the extent of our American lunatic fringe had been underestimated." Orson Wells on the reaction to the _War Of The Worlds_ broadcast.