andy levy wrote:
> Look at the XJ vs. KJ (Cherokee/Liberty). DC pissed off just about
> every Jeep loyalist by killing the XJ and introducing the IFS KJ. But
> they also won over a lot of new people.
>
> Unfortunately, it's a business. You have to make the product that will
> sell.
I agree, but they are chasing away their loyal customers at the same
time. My point is that there aren't anywhere near as many people that
are loyal to a particular brand of American car as there used to be (or
should be if they were doing things right). On the other hand, I know a
huge number of people who are extremely loyal to certain import car
brands, mostly Toyota and Honda. I wish I could say I was that loyal to
Dodge, but I'm really not.
Sure, these new buyers that they have attracted with changed models like
the Liberty will bring them money for now -- but I'd give you odds that
most of them will not purchase another Jeep product in the future (or
any Chrylser product, for that matter). It's the repeat business from
loyal customers that REALLY brings in the money.
Even still, the number of hardcore Jeep fans who liked the solid axle XJ
are almost certainly severely outnumbered by those who want a
comfortable yuppie mobile.. err, SUV.. so it's worth Jeep's loss of
loyal customers to try and pick up the slack from these new customers.
Oh well. The days of most of the things we really like are starting to
wind down. I suspect that it won't be a whole lot longer and you won't
be able to get a solid front axle and decent ground clearance on most
full size pickups either.
-Bill
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Oct 01 2004 - 11:38:59 EDT