NEW? Jeep Wagoneer
 

AN is reporting that Jeep will be bringing back a luxury SUV in the Jeep Wagoneer. Based off the Durango, Grand Chrerokee, this will be "upscale".

Does Chrysler need another SUV in its garage? If its "upscale", what will the price look like, and how can Dealers stock all these SUVs?

If they don't make it REALLY compete with the Suburban its just another way to confuse the customer. Remember the Commander......not enough wheelbase...not enough width...not enough room behind the 3rd seat when up.....THEATER seating, give me a break, they couldn't make the floor fit the seating arrangement to get some headroom. God I hope they put some thought into this one, or at least have a Suburban in the design studio to compare.

I thought the Citadel was supposed to be upscale? Agree with Steve, if it isn't Suburban/Expedition sized it will be a complete waste of effort.

I can't count the number of sales we lost when GM took Chevy away from us and we no longer had the Suburban/Tahoe to sell. Those customers wouldn't give the Durango a second look.

If it's a Commander w/ a Grand Cherokee front fascia, they can park it beside the Compass I refused to order.

Jeep hasn’t used the Grand Wagoneer nameplate in roughly 20 years, but that soon will change. In 2013, the historic moniker will once again return to the Jeep lineup as a luxurious seven-seat SUV.
The Wagoneer name was first used in 1963 for the company’s new SJ-platform SUV, and it quickly became a staple of the Jeep portfolio for the years to come. The Grand Wagoneer, which was built from 1984 through 1991 (and briefly in 1993, albeit as a tarted-up Grand Cherokee), provided passengers with luxurious appointments — something Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne wants continued when the nameplate is resurrected.
“It’s time we gave the market an upper-scale Grand Wagoneer,” Marchionne said at a press conference at the Detroit auto show yesterday. “You’ll see it in January 2013.”

According to Marchionne, the Grand Wagoneer will be a seven-passenger SUV based on the WK2 platform, which is already used beneath today’s Grand Cherokee and the new 2011 Dodge Durango. The seven-passenger configuration suggests it may have more in common with the Durango, which was stretched five inches to accommodate a third-row seat.
The move isn’t entirely unprecedented — after all, the seven-seat Commander was derived from the last-generation WK Grand Cherokee platform — but Marchionne promises the new vehicle will be an entirely new beast.

“That [Commander] was unfit for human consumption,” Marchionne remarked when Automotive News asked how the new Grand Wagoneer would differ from the Commander. “We sold some, but I don’t know why people bought them.”

Details are still fleeting, but Marchionne noted the Grand Wagoneer will launch in 2013, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see it built alongside its WK2 siblings in the Jefferson North assembly plant located in Detroit, Michigan. Marchionne did note the Grand Wagoneer will be priced higher than other WK2 luxury models, including the Grand Cherokee Overland Summit and the Durango Citadel.


Read more: http://wot.motortrend.com/jeep-resur...#ixzz1AmHXojdB

Incredible quote from Marchionne. Is he losing his mind??

What kind of a CEO/leader bad-mouths product that hasn't even completed its lease cycle yet? I don't suppose that will do good things for resale value.

It's like they never learn. Just keep spitting out products that are slight variations on stuff they already have. How is this going to be any different than a Durango Citadel other than that it will wear a Jeep emblem? The biggest thing it has going for it is a "historic moniker". If it is on the Durango/Grand Cherokee chassis is isn't going to be a threat to the Suburban.

I sure agree with you Noah. I'm sure somewhere there are still a few Commander's sitting on lots. I feel sorry for the folks stuck with them. Maybe if Marchionne feels that strongly about them he should buy them back. ;)

I always thought the Commander made a great five passenger SUV, but a poor seven passenger SUV. Truthfully I liked it's looks better than the 2010 and previous GC. MY wife has had five Commanders over the years and she always liked them.

The commander was too small, when I heard about the 7 passenger Jeep back in 2004 I was thinking grand wagoner not a slightly larger grand Cherokee. My guess is this will have a completely different body and could be larger in size than the Durango.

Jason

Wow...that quote is one of the most assinine things I've ever heard a factory exec say....it can only hurt the company's battered reputation and piss off past customers and dealers. He states that in his opinion, they built a crappy vehicle that was "unfit for human consumption"... 1. well, Joe Consumer says: "hmmm, he's the expert--if they did it once, maybe the next one will be too...think I'll go look at a Ford". 2. Everyone who bought one now feels like they got screwed by Chrysler and knows the vehicle's resale value will go down. 3. All the dealers will have to try to placate the customers they sold one to that hear about his comment, and will probably lose them. 4. The dealers that still have them in inventory...new and used...just had it made alot tougher to sell them. 5. The rental/lease companies just saw their resale values take a hit...that ought to make them real happy when it comes time to cycle them. 6. He just handed the competition a huge hammer to use against Chrysler when potential customers shop other brands. Unbelievable!

Perhaps I'm missing the point, but does the market REALLY need another $60k SUV at a time when the economy is in the crapper and future energy prices are in doubt? I know that a market for these vehicles does in fact exist, but I'd find it very difficult to make a business case for Jeep to throw their hat in the ring (especially considering their recent history of parts-bin products). Perhaps they would make nice rental cars?

Makes you wonder what Marchionne is going to say about the Caliber when they get around to replacing it? ;)

IMHO, that is what Chrysler needs at the moment - a Chevy Cruze / Honda Civic competitor. Not another vehicle that competes with something they already have. Crap like this makes me feel even better about being an EX Chrysler dealer!

Chrysler, perhaps with the exception of the Viper, hasn't made a vehicle that has been particularly desirable to people of my generation in my lifetime. That begs the question, then: who is your typical C/D buyer? I know Jeep and Ram have fairly well-defined market segments.

I'd surmise that I'm not the only one who is a bit concerned that C/D will eventually turn into a secondary franchise that dealers keep around so that people with bad credit who would otherwise buy used could buy new (read: Suzuki).

Makes me feel for all the fine businessmen out there who attach a significant portion of their personal wealth to a manufacturer that seems to be missing the point...of course this isn't to say that Mopar isn't making decent cars, its just the lack of something interesting that I'd be willing to pay $30k for.

It seems to that that Chrysler is a "niche" car builder. They need a volume, regular car.

It seems that when Chrysler hits the nail on the head (PT Cruiser, 300), they can't keep the new vehicles on the lot for about a year. After the initial surge of demand, they return to business as usual (slow sales, incentives, fleet sales). That, to me, suggests that they are capable of getting it right.