just wanted to put this up

[hick92]

The decision to phaseout the Jeep Comanche "came from a combination of two factors— low sales and Chrysler's attempts to make the Jeep brand fit into the Chrysler hierarchy of Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler models" with Jeep housing SUVs and Dodge making trucks.[14]

 

As sales dropped, the Comanche was planned for discontinuation. In 1990, the National Council of Jeep/Eagle dealers asked Chrysler to discontinue the Comanche, and allow them to sell a version of the Dodge Dakota pickup. [15]

 

The company chose to cancel the Comanche on June 12, 1992, after only a few thousand trucks had rolled off the Toledo, Ohio assembly line.[16]

 

wikipedia

[AMCJeepMJ]

Hasn't your teacher ever told you that you can't cite Wikipedia as a reference in a report?!? ;)

[hick92]

no they didnt that or i just wasnt listening

[whowey]

Well.. while technically correct.. its pretty lacking in actual truth....

 

It doesn't address the competitive landscape that Chrysler left the J/E dealers with.

 

By the 92 model year J/E dealers had the hottest selling vehicle in its class, the iconic vehicle in its class, an abandoned mid-sized pick-up, and a handful of hermaphrodite, awful car models on their lots.

 

The Comanche had zero marketing support, zero product development support, and every Comanche took a production slot from a Cherokee.

 

It wasn't hard to see what way they would go to keep their doors open...

[mvusse]

Although, in 92 (93 model year) they did get another good, well selling vehicle on their lot. The Eagle Talon wasn't that bad of a seller either, as it was a sister car to the Mitsubishi Eclipse, but priced lower. The richer kids usually went for the Mitsu 3000GT, though.

[carnuck]

XJs and Wrangler are what kept Jeep in the Black. As for the MJ, too many were 2wd and without a "kingcab" many guys had trouble getting in/out (I'm 6' tall and 290 lbs. Without tilt, my truck would be a no-go) I plan to make an extended cab out of the one I originally bought for parts.

[hick92]

I'm 5'7'' and i have no problems with mine its the perfect size

[terrawombat]

I'm 5'7'' and i have no problems with mine its the perfect size

 

That's wonderful.

 

Jeep also began to price the MJ out of its own market. Although I suppose they needed to as one more MJ built meant one less XJ (and accompanying profit margin).

[jpnjim]

They didn't want to put the $$ into designing an extended cab,

being unibody made that retooling cost even higher than normal.

 

 

Extended cabs were where the profit margins were,

profits are in options & extra's,

and barely anyone wanted a luxury regular cab.

 

Even as base models Comanche's cost more than the other compact/midsize P/U's,

another disadvantage.

 

Cherokee's had a very high profit margin, were generally ordered with tons of options,

so every Comanche built meant room for one less Cherokee to be built

(like whowey said).

 

By the 1990's,

the only thing limiting Cherokee sales was their production ability.

 

That's why the Grand Cherokee outsold the Cherokee from day one,

the ZJ's brand new state of the art Jefferson plant could crank out ZJ's almost 3:1 compared to XJ's.

 

 

It makes sense to either support, or kill the MJ,

 

but the two things that still p!ss me off about it are:

 

they were able to keep the little imported rebadged Mitsubishi Ram50 around for one year longer than the MJ

 

and

years later, after NOT allowing Jeep to get their own versions of the Ram, or the Dakota, for fears of cross competition,

they let Mitsubishi have their own restyled Dakota (Mitsu Raider) to sell/compete with.

[DIGMYGP]

They didn't want to put the $$ into designing an extended cab,

being unibody made that retooling cost even higher than normal.

 

Extended cabs were where the profit margins were,

profits are in options & extra's,

and barely anyone wanted a luxury regular cab.

 

Even as base models Comanche's cost more than the other compact/midsize P/U's,

another disadvantage.

 

Cherokee's had a very high profit margin, were generally ordered with tons of options,

so every Comanche built meant room for one less Cherokee to be built

(like whowey said).

 

By the 1990's,

the only thing limiting Cherokee sales was their production ability.

 

That's why the Grand Cherokee outsold the Cherokee from day one,

the ZJ's brand new state of the art Jefferson plant could crank out ZJ's almost 3:1 compared to XJ's.

 

 

It makes sense to either support, or kill the MJ,

 

but the two things that still p!ss me off about it are:

 

they were able to keep the little imported rebadged Mitsubishi Ram50 around for one year longer than the MJ

 

and

years later, after NOT allowing Jeep to get their own versions of the Ram, or the Dakota, for fears of cross competition,

they let Mitsubishi have their own restyled Dakota (Mitsu Raider) to sell/compete with.

 

 

I have to agree with the profit margin statement... I ordered my YJ in July of 94 paid in full at time of order . The Jeep was delayed a build date till April of 95 because all the 4.0 's were designated for the Cherokee's . So even though they had a cash sale for a brand new vehicle I still had to wait for 9 months because all engines were claimed for by Jeep.

[jpnjim]

I have to agree with the profit margin statement... I ordered my YJ in July of 94 paid in full at time of order . The Jeep was delayed a build date till April of 95 because all the 4.0 's were designated for the Cherokee's . So even though they had a cash sale for a brand new vehicle I still had to wait for 9 months because all engines were claimed for by Jeep.

 

Interesting story!

I wonder if that was normal,

or if there was some slowdown at Kenosha (engine plant).

9 months for the next available engine sounds like a long time to me.

If they got preferential treatment, no wonder XJ's always outsold YJ's & TJs.

 

They say the reason Explorers always outsold all the other competition wasn't that they were better, or in higher demand,

it's just that no one could match Ford's production capacity.

[Automan2164]

A guy at work who bought a '95 YJ new also told me the same thing, that his 4.0L turned into a 2.5L unless he wanted to wait for the next batch of 4.0L's.

 

Rob :dunno:

[DIGMYGP]

I can only tell my experience. I started by talking to my contact person every month for the first 3 months then called every week for a few months. Then they called me with weekly updates until 04/19/95 when my Jeep rolled off the assembly line .04/19 just happens to be my birthday . Cool birthday present. I still have it but it has transformed into a RockCrawler stroked to 4.6 , NV4500, Atlas II , BFG Krawlers yada yada .

[whowey]

but the two things that still p!ss me off about it are:

 

they were able to keep the little imported rebadged Mitsubishi Ram50 around for one year longer

 

 

I had one badged as a Plymouth Arrow for about 10 days... I bought it off the back of the dealer lot I worked at for next to nothing. I was tooling around and hitting snow drifts...The frame snapped right behind the cab after hitting a big one...