I had started a thread on Car & Drivers web site about the 2005 Dakota..
Primarily commenting on lack of Diesel or Hemi power in them. Apparently
they've never driven an R/T or even an old Mopar.
Thier attitude was mainly that it's looks are just terrible, a 4.7L is
plenty of motor for it, nobody would buy a diesel Dak and the Hemi isn't
needed.
Perhaps not all of us want to buy Rams instead of Daks.
Just my $.02
Aaron Wyse
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Pitz" <dakota@billpitz.com>
To: <dakota-truck-moderator@bent.twistedbits.net>
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2004 4:43 PM
Subject: Re: DML: I Took A Gen IV For A Spin Today
>
> 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