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Jeep dealers worried Grand Wagoneer could be too much, too late

redriderbob

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On January 10, 2011, an Automotive News article quoted Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne saying, "It's time we gave the market an upper-scale Grand Wagoneer." Like Babe Ruth pointing a finger at the far stands, Marchionne next predicted our date with historical destiny: "You'll see it in January 2013." Had that happened, the Grand Wagoneer would been a grand slam. Seven years later, with various economic factors in flux and still with no Grand Wagoneer in sight, it seems some Fiat Chrysler dealersare worried the luxury three-row Jeep could appear after the SUV game is over or, at the very least, much harder to play.

What got in the way of the Grand Wagoneer? Shifting plans for and the need to pour money into Alfa Romeo. The debate about what kind of vehicle the Wagoneer should be — a unibody Range Rover rival, or a body-on-frame Chevrolet Suburban foe. After that, what should the thing look like? And then there's Fiat Chrysler's North American manufacturing capacity, which can't shoehorn space for Grand Wagoneer production at the same time as it needs lines running for two Ram 1500 model years. That last point is what could push Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer arrival to 2021.

Outside the company, at least one Bank of America Merill Lynch analyst believes that economic forces such as a shrinking car market, more competition, higher interest rates on more expensive cars, lower used car prices, and higher gas prices will soon bring an end to the "Goldilocks" phase of crossover mania. He isn't alone, with an IHS analyst saying the same thing three years ago, another IHS analyst diving deeper into the declining numbers two years ago, and three other analysts breaking down depressed used car prices. Fuel prices are anyone's guess, but those other pressures could squeeze retailers trying to sell high-end metal.

No one expects the Grand Wagoneer to fail, yet dealers don't expect the vehicle to practically sell itself. One dealer told AN, "We could have killed with [the Grand Wagoneer] if it had been available when they first told us about it, but it's a much tougher sell with interest rates and gas prices going up." Another dealer, perhaps more sanguine, said, "The Grand Wagoneer will still sell because it's a Jeep. But it would have been nice to have them already."

"Nice" is an understatement. One dealership was so excited about getting the new big Jeep that it wrote a blog post in 2015 announcing the Grand Wagoneer's arrival in 2018. Perhaps the fact that there are two Wagoneers on the way, a standard and a Grand version, plus a three-row Grand Cherokee, will bring all the boys to the yard come 2021, or whenever they show up.

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/06/18/jeep-dealers-worried-grand-wagoneer-too-late/
 

Ryan

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Jared B

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As we've already seen, he doesn't really know what he's talking about in some cases.

Hell, his eTorque and 2019 Ram 1500 doom and gloom article spread like wildfire, I wrote a counter article that some people liked and some called me a fanboy for and days later the first eTorque equipped trucks started rolling off the line lol.
 

MoparMantis

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I can honestly say the Grand Wagoneer and Wagoneer will be priced competitively with the Yukon, Yukon XL and Denali models.

That's better than I was thinking. I was concerned they were looking to price them a bit closer to the Escalade. Seemed like there were rumors/speculation of 100k and 140k a while back.
 

Bili

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Hell, his eTorque and 2019 Ram 1500 doom and gloom article spread like wildfire, I wrote a counter article that some people liked and some called me a fanboy for and days later the first eTorque equipped trucks started rolling off the line lol.

I must say that lately, actually for the last 2 or 3 years, AN reporters are acting very hostile towards FCA.

I have some examples for an European products. I think it was 7th or 8th of June. Once again AN said that Fiat will kill Tipo for EU. And what happened on 13th of June? Fiat released new price list for Tipo on Italy. All engines are now Euro 6d. Why it is so important? Without new homologations customers could not register them after September 1st.
 

Jared B

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Yeah, I have found some of their takes on FCA products to be quite odd, almost attacking and based mostly on speculation.
 

srm3500

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So now the question is, when are we going to see mules or prototypes running around?;)
 

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