Is the Gladiator losing interest with buyers?

[BearFootSam]

Unless someone is a Jeep person, I don't think the Gladiator makes good objective sense to many potential buyers. It's not powerful, gets poor MPGs and on stock wheels & tires looks kind of odd. There are many strong subjective reasons to buy one, I know that's why I bought mine. In this no-stimulus economy, I'd bet more buyers are looking at needs v. wants and the JT doesn't typically stack up well in that type of comparison.

Objective but worries about power ams wheels?

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[ShadowsPapa]

It's not powerful, gets poor MPGs and on stock wheels & tires looks kind of odd.

LOL
OK, whatever.

 

[Cburd61]

I think a lot of Gladiator sales are/were to folks who wanted the next “cool” thing. I’ve always had a Ram 1500 crew cab in our line up. We used to haul our tractor 30 miles to clean up our other property we had at the time. Since we sold it, (property you aren’t close to becomes a liability when you can’t check on it often. We had squatters and people dumping trash, etc. on it.), we really haven’t needed to tow anything heavy. When the Gladiator came out, I wanted one. It does everything we need it to. Also, I believe a lot of folks aren’t willing to spend that kind of money on a somewhat “Spartan” vehicle, when they can get a luxury vehicle with more bells and whistles for around the same price as a loaded Gladiator.

 

[glovesf15]

They have been saying that since covid, but the numbers say otherwise. They are going to raise interest rates further because the economy just won't slow down.

Everyone I know is still making money, they are building houses like crazy in my area, can't get enough people on construction crews, dealers are still doing markups on cars, my industry can't hire people fast enough, still getting big raises and bonuses to keep me from leaving. But all you hear is doom and gloom about how the economy sucks because groceries are expensive. Kinda a weird time.

Boise IS NOT the norm.

 

[staying_tuned]

You've observed some trends or other indications that would show that to be the case?

The Glady is quite literally the neatest pickup truck on earth. It's timeless. That said, it continues to increase the speed at which it isolates itself from the stable of options which the average mid-size truck buyer considers. Not sure if anyone cares about that, when it comes time for our next one we certainly wont, but general lack of interest surely will continue to decline given all exacerbating circumstances wouldn't you think?

 

[BearFootSam]

The Glady is quite literally the neatest pickup truck on earth. It's timeless. That said, it continues to increase the speed at which it isolates itself from the stable of options which the average mid-size truck buyer considers. Not sure if anyone cares about that, when it comes time for our next one we certainly wont, but general lack of interest surely will continue to decline given all exacerbating circumstances wouldn't you think?

It's going to be one of those special vehicles that folks will miss and lament not buying after it leaves the market. I don't expect it to go anywhere soon but I also doubt we'll ever see anything like it in the future. I expect electric trucks will come along that will be objectively superior but with a totally different character.

 

[shokker70]

They have been saying that since covid, but the numbers say otherwise. They are going to raise interest rates further because the economy just won't slow down.

Everyone I know is still making money, they are building houses like crazy in my area, can't get enough people on construction crews, dealers are still doing markups on cars, my industry can't hire people fast enough, still getting big raises and bonuses to keep me from leaving. But all you hear is doom and gloom about how the economy sucks because groceries are expensive. Kinda a weird time.

Swap the word economy with inflation. Not the same thing, and attempting to slow inflation is why they continue to raise rates. Drastically different things.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

Swap the word economy with inflation. Not the same thing, and attempting to slow inflation is why they continue to raise rates. Drastically different things.

Over the last three years my 401k is up over 30%, my house value has more than doubled, 50% increase in salary, my savings is paying 4.65%, and all my investments are up.

Absolutely miserable economy.

 

[shokker70]

Over the last three years my 401k is up over 30%, my house value has more than doubled, 50% increase in salary, my savings is paying 4.65%, and all my investments are up.

Absolutely miserable economy.

I can give the same anecdotal evidence in the exact opposite directions for lots of folks, including my in-laws and better half who have quite large portfolios, that have declined significantly the last year plus. Except for housing. And value aside, people aren't selling/buying due to the interest rates. Folks who are not so lucky as us financially, feel the effects of inflation way more than we do. $4 a gallon for gas may mean some folks can't afford the gas to get to work. Just sayin.

However, the point of my post was that they are not raising interest rates to slow the economy. They are raising interest rates to try and slow inflation. A simple correction. Apologies if I offended.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

I can give the same anecdotal evidence in the exact opposite directions for lots of folks, including my in-laws and better half who have quite large portfolios, that have declined significantly the last year plus. Except for housing. And value aside, people aren't selling/buying due to the interest rates. Folks who are not so lucky as us financially, feel the effects of inflation way more than we do. $4 a gallon for gas may mean some folks can't afford the gas to get to work. Just sayin.

However, the point of my post was that they are not raising interest rates to slow the economy. They are raising interest rates to try and slow inflation. A simple correction. Apologies if I offended.

No worries, no offense taken!

 

[MPMB]

High cost, higher interest rates, high fuel prices, lower MPG’s are all having impacts on truck sales. Many people opted for a truck to have something to haul stuff occasionally, but have since determined they don’t do that often enough to own a truck.

Regarding the Gladiator, unless you are a Wrangler fan, you’re probably not looking to purchase one. I just swapped a ‘15 JK Sahara for a ‘21 Gladiator. Pricey truck.

you misspelled "it's the economy, stupid."



People in the market for a 4-dr mid-size pickup can't afford new, premium priced vehicles, and certainly not at ~6-8% APR.

The lack of a bigger powerplant also might be turning buyers off. I see no shortage of Raptors and Tremors roaming the streets.

 

[BAT]

It was the perfect truck for us. I had an older RAM 1500, which was a fine truck but it was big. My wife had a 2017 Grand Cherokee Trailhawk. Nice vehicle, rode well but was lacking on it's cargo capacity. Running to the lumber yard usually resulted in things tied to the roof rack. Got decent gas mileage and had room in the back seat.

We looked at the Canyon/Colorado (I had one back in 2005) and the Taco. Liked the 2023 Colorado but had limited back seat room. To get one with roughly the same features as the Gladiator would have put the Colorado over $50K. The Taco had no back seat room and no one had the Off Road package with the 6' bed within 1000 miles and the one I found was in a color that momma did not want and was over $50K. She said no Fords so the Ranger was out.

I was looking at 2023 Gladiators and was willing to compromise on what options I wanted for price. I found a Hydro Blue on the lot with most of what we wanted for $51K. Then I found this 2021 Snazzberry Rubicon with 3670 miles on it with most of the options that I couldn't easily add and then some and got it for $47K OTD. She just got back from a 10 day 1800 mile trip and absolutely said that she was very comfortable in it, it rode great and was able to carry everything she went up to get, which would have required a trailer with the Grand Cherokee. and averaged over 21 MPG.

I love this truck.

When I recently test drove the new Ram 1500 which I had been out of for 3 years. I kept sitting in that thing thinking man this thing is big. I have gotten so used to slinging my little mid size truck into all kind of places and even while driving on on our concrete wall highways around Houston and think man its kind of nice having some space to play with

 

[MPMB]

Over the last three years my 401k is up over 30%, my house value has more than doubled, 50% increase in salary, my savings is paying 4.65%, and all my investments are up.

Absolutely miserable economy.

Areas ebb and flow.

400mi to your NW, home values are dropping, tens of thousands fired from tech jobs, stagnant wages. Boeing is the outlier; they can't get enough people to work for them, they're hiring retired people and giving them bonuses.

We left WA for UT. We "lost" out on $100-$150k home value by delaying our move a year. In the meantime, home values in UT went up $75-100k over that year.

 

[Deleted member 57233]

Areas ebb and flow.

400mi to your NW, home values are dropping, tens of thousands fired from tech jobs, stagnant wages. Boeing is the outlier; they can't get enough people to work for them, they're hiring retired people and giving them bonuses.

We left WA for UT. We "lost" out on $100-$150k home value by delaying our move a year. In the meantime, home values in UT went up $75-100k over that year.

Those tech layoffs are just a correction because of the crazy hiring they did during the pandemic, barely a blip on the radar in the tech industry. Tech as a whole still can't get enough people to fill the open positions.

Speaking of that, if y'all know any engineers that want to make six figures working from home for a NY company let me know. I get $5k for each person I find because we can't hire fast enough.

 

[Alpine Warthog]

Those tech layoffs are just a correction because of the crazy hiring they did during the pandemic, barely a blip on the radar in the tech industry. Tech as a whole still can't get enough people to fill the open positions.

Speaking of that, if y'all know any engineers that want to make six figures working from home for a NY company let me know. I get $5k for each person I find because we can't hire fast enough.

True enough. problem with tech is that Tech programs in colleges are math heavy. Math scores in America are abysmal. SO most of your kids who would do tech think they'll be game designers and get turned off once they learn they gonna have to do math.

The other way into tech is through the less popular "non-college" technology schools that everybody turns their noses up to. SO you don't have many people coming in that way either.

Tech is always going to be hiring, just like pilots, doctors, nurses.

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