Jeep's challenge is not a small one by any stretch. Brands have to evolve to remain relevant and successful. Some brands are harder to evolve than others - based on what they stood/stand for. No matter how hard they tried, Smith Corona would've failed to keep us interested in their brand. That Jeep built its brand on attributes that are less relevant today is makes it that much tougher to remain relevant.
Their current challenge is meeting the needs of the market while remaining true to the brand. It's challenge, but not an insurmountable one. Look at Levis. They didn't see the hipster skinny jean trend, $hit themselves and jump on the bandwagon. They evolved in a strategic and appropriate manner. That brand started in the mines, and somehow is meeting the needs of contractors and college kids. They are making products that support the original brand positioning, but in a way that's more in line with the market.
Jeep isn't innovating to do this. They're just copying in a reactive way. While the Vehicross was a flop for a bunch of reasons, it's the kind of innovation that Jeep should be doing - something that lets the buyer check the boxes (smaller, better mpg, greener) but still have the cool car in the lot... still a jeep.
Agreed with all of this
but didn't you just completely describe the Renegade in the last part of that last paragraph? "...(smaller, better mpg, greener) but still have the cool car in the lot... still a jeep."
If you want to fault the "reactive way" they've come to this market, I completely agree there, but that's not the current ownership's fault. Daimler Chrysler #&$^ed that up when they missed the boat and offered up the lamea$$ Compass, Patriot and Liberty as their small/cheap offerings.
Love them or hate them, FCA jumped straight in to fill this hole in Jeep's offering with something that I think is actually justifiable as a Jeep (per my earlier "own the segment" comment) given the limitations of the segment (it would never be solid axled or be able to have 35" tires).
It's based on an existing platform, yes, but that's the economic reality of building a car now. Honestly, with the limitations of required price point, MPG and overall size, I'm not sure what a completely new vehicle that would fit this segment could offer over a Renegade in reality.
So yes, completely reactionary, but at least the Renegade has the chops to own the segment for which it's aiming. Nothing close to that could be said of the previous small Jeep SUVs.
Also, interesting to keep in mind that the Scrambler was a "flop". Now, of course, I'm not comparing it to the Renegade, but it proves that marketing matters and I personally think that Jeep is
nailing the marketing with the Renegade.
Also worth noting:
Jeep folks overwhelmingly HATED the JKs when they were introduced... and the 1 MILLIONTH rolled off the line last March. Jeep's never sold so many of any model so fast. 600k CJ-5s were made over 29 years of production, the most of any previous Jeep model. The JKs hit a million in 7 years.
Then there's the despised Cherokee. It outsold the Wrangler (two and four door combined) both globally and in the US in 2014. Not by much, but it did.
Last point. Look at the entry point price for any other 4wd Jeep (not including the short-lived compass/patriot). There's a ton of folks that can't make that work.
We'll be swimming in Renegades soon.
