Is Jeep the Marlin of the American Auto Industry?

[LouisvEarlleJT]

I would dig mahindra doing it, something about being an old licensed manufacturer would be a cool story.

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[Gizmo]

I read Marlin and the first thing I thought was Marlin the car American Motors used to make. All I could think was God don't bring AMC back we don't need that junk again

 

[Sweetums]

The problem with AMC wasn't so much that it was a bad company, but they never had the market share to have the clout of the Big Three. If you ask someone to name some AMC models, they almost exclusively think of Malaise Era cars that ultimately failed due to things beyond AMC's control. The Gremlin and Pacer were originally planned to be fuel-sipping compacts to compete with Japanese imports and the VW Beetle; but the planned collaboration with GM for an efficient 4-cylinder fell apart when GM utterly failed to develop the engine. As a result, they had to put in an old, heavy, underpowered, and inefficient inline six that made the cars pointless and awful.

Remember that AMC made the Javelin, the Matador, the Jeep Wagoneer, they put a V8 in the CJ (how many people here perennially whine about not having a V8?), and the Eagle which you could say was the first crossover. They also started the XJ, which you can argue was the first modern SUV. AMC innovated in a lot of areas, if anything they were well ahead of their time and developing ideas that the auto market just wasn't ready for.

 

[AmosMoses]

You guys are smoking something to think that stellantis hasn't churned out one of the best jeeps to date. Granted I have some criticisms of the jk, jl and jt but the modern jeep blows away the tj/yj/cj and it's not even close. Jl and jt's are niche vehicles and always will be. If they aren't, than they have probably evolved too much from their roots which some would argue is the problem with current jeeps. The forum wasn't complaining too much about prices before our economy was building back better and before the bronco came out.

That said I hope GM never buys the jeep brand. I'd rather see nissan get it or maybe Mitsubishi if they still make cars in the US.

 

[00Mutt]

Mahindra

https://auto.mahindra.com/

https://www.mahindrausa.com/products/roxor/

Literally the day after I found out Mahindra made a jeep "clone", I saw one up in Mackinac. They are pretty small plus I'm not certain if Mahindra really has the financial ability to take something like this on.

 

[Lunentucker]

You guys are smoking something to think that stellantis hasn't churned out one of the best jeeps to date. Granted I have some criticisms of the jk, jl and jt but the modern jeep blows away the tj/yj/cj and it's not even close. Jl and jt's are niche vehicles and always will be. If they aren't, than they have probably evolved too much from their roots which some would argue is the problem with current jeeps. The forum wasn't complaining too much about prices before our economy was building back better and before the bronco came out.

That said I hope GM never buys the jeep brand. I'd rather see nissan get it or maybe Mitsubishi if they still make cars in the US.

Sales are way down, and they need to reduce trim levels by at least half.
A 2 door with manual windows and steel wheels and a hard top shouldn't be stickered at $41,000.

 

[Uparms]

After several failures in the firearms industry, I think Marlin has found a good place to exist under the Ruger umbrella.
Ruger has the resources, quality, and leadership that the brand has desperately need to return to its former glory.

So that got me thinking about Jeep.
Stellantis seems to be to Jeep what Remington was to Marlin, trying to capitalize on the name and not much else. Now that seems to be catching up to them.
I also think they enjoyed a couple of good years during the Covid shortages for no other reason than they could deliver inventory while other makers were stuck in the chip shortages, so CJDR vehicles were pretty much all that was out there if you wanted a new car or truck.

I really do think the Jeep brand deserves better than Stellantis.

So with that in mind, who should be the company that saves them this time?
What automotive giant can be Jeep's Ruger?

I really like the question but would have left the comparison out and just asked, Who' Next. Since the precedents been done so many times in Jeeps history, easy question.

I ain't got no answer. If the numbers keep going down for Wrangler's and JT, could those two be moved under RAM?

Who says these two have to stay with an auto manufacturer? What about the big performance UTV companies? USA Based??. Might get us a stipped down, performance JT/JL sooner with lower prices. #LooseTheBullShxt!

Is Rivian USA based?

A very timely question!!!

 

[AmosMoses]

I agree and prices are coming down. I don't think stellantis is as much of the problem as the institutions that tell stellantis what they can sell in the US.

 

[Sweetums]

You guys are smoking something to think that stellantis hasn't churned out one of the best jeeps to date. Granted I have some criticisms of the jk, jl and jt but the modern jeep blows away the tj/yj/cj and it's not even close. Jl and jt's are niche vehicles and always will be. If they aren't, than they have probably evolved too much from their roots which some would argue is the problem with current jeeps. The forum wasn't complaining too much about prices before our economy was building back better and before the bronco came out.

That said I hope GM never buys the jeep brand. I'd rather see nissan get it or maybe Mitsubishi if they still make cars in the US.

Mitsubishi is owned by Nissan-Renault.

 

[Bully4]

The problem with AMC wasn't so much that it was a bad company, but they never had the market share to have the clout of the Big Three. If you ask someone to name some AMC models, they almost exclusively think of Malaise Era cars that ultimately failed due to things beyond AMC's control. The Gremlin and Pacer were originally planned to be fuel-sipping compacts to compete with Japanese imports and the VW Beetle; but the planned collaboration with GM for an efficient 4-cylinder fell apart when GM utterly failed to develop the engine. As a result, they had to put in an old, heavy, underpowered, and inefficient inline six that made the cars pointless and awful.

Remember that AMC made the Javelin, the Matador, the Jeep Wagoneer, they put a V8 in the CJ (how many people here perennially whine about not having a V8?), and the Eagle which you could say was the first crossover. They also started the XJ, which you can argue was the first modern SUV. AMC innovated in a lot of areas, if anything they were well ahead of their time and developing ideas that the auto market just wasn't ready for.

The Eagle was a neat vehicle. One could probably give most newer SUV's a run for their money off-road. There's a local guy that collects them. Once in a while, you see him at the local convenience store.
From what I remember, they had a fairly tough drivetrain.

 

[Sweetums]

You guys are smoking something to think that stellantis hasn't churned out one of the best jeeps to date. Granted I have some criticisms of the jk, jl and jt but the modern jeep blows away the tj/yj/cj and it's not even close. Jl and jt's are niche vehicles and always will be. If they aren't, than they have probably evolved too much from their roots which some would argue is the problem with current jeeps. The forum wasn't complaining too much about prices before our economy was building back better and before the bronco came out.

That said I hope GM never buys the jeep brand. I'd rather see nissan get it or maybe Mitsubishi if they still make cars in the US.

"My 4.0 ate another cam shaft" - No TJ Owner Ever.

 

[BourbonRunner]

The only potential suitor I can see is VW. There is such little crossover in key areas and complimentary where it counts that it might just work. I would assume anyone would want a package deal of Ram and Jeep along with the minivans. Then Stellantis would leave the smoldering heap of Dodge and a faded memory of Chrysler as it yanks Alfa and Fiat out of the US and scampers back to Belgium.

 

[Jteakus]

VW?!?
Nope

 

[Midnight Rider]

The only potential suitor I can see is VW. There is such little crossover in key areas and complimentary where it counts that it might just work. I would assume anyone would want a package deal of Ram and Jeep along with the minivans. Then Stellantis would leave the smoldering heap of Dodge and a faded memory of Chrysler as it yanks Alfa and Fiat out of the US and scampers back to Belgium.

VW is reviving the Scout as an suv & pickup albeit as an EV. The reveal is later this month but size wise not sure how it will compare to the Gladiator/Wrangler.
I could see GM buying Jeep as much as I would hate that. I also could see Ford buying Ram to give Lincoln dealers more volume. Who knows?

 

[Scott L]

Sales are way down, and they need to reduce trim levels by at least half.
A 2 door with manual windows and steel wheels and a hard top shouldn't be stickered at $41,000.

A 2 door with manual windows and steel wheels and a hard top shouldn't be stickered at $41,000
and a dozen eggs shouldn’t cost five bucks and a pound of butter shouldn’t cost seven bucks yet here we are. I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it printing tens of trillions of dollars has consequences and they ain’t pretty. It’s the insidious tax on the middle and working class.

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