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A little birdie has told me...


rockhardzj
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I've heard rumblings that the Kota was gonna get axed because their not selling at all. No idea how true it is. If a jeep pickup is on the way I hope they made the headlights look better than the new Libby's. I was hoping for something more like the pats front end.

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That Gladiator has been on the auto show circuit for over a year. The Scrambler fans have claimed it as their replacement, since it's named Gladiator the old J-truck fans claim it as theirs, and now the Comanche fanatics are staking their claim on it.

 

I could see Jeep taking a swing at it. The Compass is pathetic, the Patriot not much better, and the new liberty is a Dodge Nitro w/jeep front end. I think they are losing some of their identity with 2 crossovers in their lineup, and this would definitely up the "ruggedness" of the line, IMO.

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what I would like is a new "comanche" modeled after the compass but built on the older liberty main chassis with solid axles front and rear, and a diesel.

 

not that it's too much to ask for.

 

 

oh, and BY THE WAY...the gladiator concept vehicle has been around for at least 2 years, and if you read about it, is a complete piece of crap with a very, VERY week frame (imagine a wrangler frame with less cross-bracing and about twice as long). it would never make it thorugh safety inspections.

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the gladiator isnt production...its a concept. a production would most likely have a heavy frame. i would love a pickup based on the liberty....that would essentially make it a manche!!! but no to darken the day here but diamler didnt think there was money to be made on a jeep pickup. Cerberus is even more of a money grubbing company that has a bad habit of selling off parts of companies it buys.....this means our beloved jeep could end up being owned by a foriegn company.

thats why i see it as not likely.....but i hope I'm wrong

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this means our beloved jeep could end up being owned by a foriegn company.

thats why i see it as not likely.....but i hope I'm wrong

 

 

 

We dealt with Ceberus at Autosystems. If they were going to unload Heep, they would've already.

 

You don't win buyers with the same old junk. Thats my standpoint. I think this may help ALOT.

 

an HD pickup for Joe Worker that can acctually do its job and do it well.

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the ramblings of this gladiator concept are sourced from an article that was written back in July, and talks about it being available in early 2008. well, here we are, early 2008, and we've heard nothing else substantial about a vehicle that should be available within the coming months. if it were available soon, everyone would already know about it, and we'd probably be seeing ads on tv for it already.

 

this article is a hoax!!!!!!!!!

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As mentioned before, that truck is a concept vehicle Jeep built and put on the show circuit over 2 yrs ago. Usually there are 3 types of vehicles put on the auto show circuit.

 

The wild and crazy, more often seen from the asian builders, that mfr's build simply to let their engineers run wild with an idea (inside the industry they say it's basically a reward for engineers to do what they want vs. constantly designing something for the mainstream, which to the designer, is boring), usually they don't have any practical use at all and are never intended to be considered for production.

 

The mainstream variation, which is usually a revamped model, say, Chevy's new Malibu, new model introduction etc.

 

And then the "what if" category, which, again, may be a new variation of a car/truck such as the Avalanche (which clearly is just a step beyond the Explorer SportTrac, which also was built because of public response when it was a concept vehicle), or a vehicle they would be willing to build if public response begs for it. Two perfect examples are the Viper and Prowler. The Prowler is the best example because Chrysler did not put it on the show circuit with the intent to build it, but the public went crazy over it and after some re-tooling on the design (i.e. what could they steal from the parts bin) they knew they could build it and make a buck.

 

The Gladiator obviously fits in this last category. It's not off the wall, it wouldn't be hard to build, it would have a lot of shared parts, so I think they would build it if they thought they could sell a ton of them. But it's quite clear the public response has shown they would NOT sell a lot. Another deciding factor for a mfr is whether or not the car/truck makes a statement for them that provides other value. Again, take the Prowler. I would bet they did not make a lot of money off it by itself, if at all, but what they got in public attention BECAUSE of the Prowler sold a hell of a lot of their other cars. Keep in mind, this has nothing to do whether the Prowler was a good car, a good deal, or any of that. The point is just enough of the general public wanted one and more importantly it set Chysler apart for awhile. You could argue that the Viper and the Prowler officially wiped the K-car out of the public's mind forever. The Gladiator, IMO, would not make enough of an impact on the Jeep brand to offset what would likely be very small sales figures.

 

So, the article and talk of production is not necessarily a hoax. In fact, don't be surprised if Jeep started the rumor again theirselves just so the mags would write about it again and Jeep could see if the public response has changed any. You know the mags are letting the mfr know if their readers are ringing the phone off the hook wanting to know more about it!

 

Well, sorry to post a(nother) long winded viewpoint. I was in the auto and med. duty truck industry for 13 yrs so I guess I just like to wax poetic about this kind of stuff.

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I meant to mention the Brute before, you can buy that vehicle right now.

 

http://www.aev-conversions.com/products/brute/

 

Notice the article on Edmunds is a year old, the Brute has had a lot of press since then. Comments made in the article, I think, confirm some of my comments on the Gladiator, mainly that as a low production vehicle mfr'ing costs would be too high since it would require its own platform and therefore could not share enough parts to make it profitable.

 

I like the Brute better anyway, except for the high rise roof. And the Scrambler fan in me would like to see a one piece tub if it's built on the Wrangler platform. Like one of other guys said, stretch the Unlimited another 18 inches and bulk up the frame. Done.

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