Question. If Chrysler goes down like it very well might, What will happen to Jeep?

[leftyladyfrommo]

I have a Jeep so I am really curious. Will Jeep still exist? Will someone else just take it over? How does that work in the auto industry?

[terip64]

1. What will happen to MI? I can't imagine...n/t

[Tin Man]

2. Jeep has global brand recognition - somebody would buy it for the name alone

[1932]

3. MercedesBenz-Chrysler will, I'm sure, be one of the last car companies standing

Ford and GM will go down before MB-C.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. They were talking about cutting Chrysler loose yesterday.

Chrysler is just bleeding all over the place.

[papau]

19. A firm from China is a likely buyer n/t

n/t

[leftyladyfrommo]

22. Oh, I hope not. I try to never buy Chinese. n/t

[Tin Man]

7. Chrysler is killing that corp - it wouldn't surprise me if they dump Chrysler and revert to MB again

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. Poor Michigan. All the auto people will have to reloctate to the

southern states where the profitible auto companies are.

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. ...........like Mexico?

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. What's in Mexico?

Aren't Toyota and Hundai and Honda in the South now?

[TheCowsCameHome]

24. Yup, but VW and GM still have Mexican plants, I believe.

[Horse with no Name]

21. And the states that have the fewest worker rights

and the states that are notorious for union busting.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. If that happens, (a HUGE "if") it'll be just like what happened to Rambler

Remember Rambler? It became part of American Motors. AMC then became part of Jeep which was then bought by Chrysler. Chrysler isn't going to go away. Daimler is simply considering unloading the division. Either Ford, GM, or maybe even Toyota or Honda will pick up the brand. If it were to completely fold, there are still plenty of spare parts available to keep your Jeep running.

[leftyladyfrommo]

8. Its just that Jeep has been around for ever. And I love my jeep

even tho it does get really bad mileage. I wanted a jeep wrangler all my life and I finally was able to get one.

[Horse with no Name]

23. I love my Jeep too

:loveya:

[SheilaT]

33. I'm curious. Why would you want a car

that gets really bad mileage? And how reliable are Jeeps? What kind of maintenance history do they have?

In short, without intending to bash Jeep owners, American car companies have resisted building safe, reliable, fuel-efficient cars, and have only do so because the Japanese and the German manufacturers did so. Several years back it was clear that the American car companies made a deliberate decision to build bigger and less fuel-efficient SUVs, to hell with economical, safe, high-mileage vehicles. And now they're paying the price.

True, the average assembly line worker wasn't involved in that choice and they'll be the ones who suffer the most. I feel sympathy for them, but not for the greedy corporate bastards who made all the bad decisions.

[AllegroRondo]

28. Not exactly like that....

My dad worked for AMC for 20 years...

Jeep was owned by AMC, not the other way around. In the early 80s', AMC entered into a partnership with Renault, with Renault owning about 40% of AMC. In 1987, Chrysler bought the entire company, and scrapped basically everything but the Jeep and Eagle lines.

[A HERETIC I AM]

34. Thanks for the correction.

I got my sequence of events wrong. Thanks for setting me straight.

What did your father do for AMC? I lived in Detroit during the 90s and drove down through Toledo hundreds of times, right past the original Willys-Overland plant that was (is still?) right next to I 75. Chrysler built that new plant on the north side of Toledo, closer to the Mi. state line that now builds the CJ line (if i am not mistaken).

So many old plants, so many old stories in that area.

[AllegroRondo]

37. He worked at the Kenosha plant

doing a number of jobs over his 20 years. Kenosha was the corporate headquarters, and had 3 plants at one time, Lakefront, Main, and Engine (I dont know the actual names, thats what everyone called them). They built the Javelin, Ambassador, Pacer, Spirit, and later the Renault Alliance and Encore.

When Chrysler bought them out in 87, nearly everyone lost their jobs. Only the Engine plant is still there.

[A HERETIC I AM]

40. Wow. I often forget how much auto making was done in Wisconsin.

I found this info on the Kenosha plant;
http://cgcomm.daimlerchrysler.com/plants.do?method=display&docId=345

Still in use by Daimler Chrysler.

[Tesha]

9. The Jeep property is valuable. The Chrysler property is worthless shit.

The Jeep property is valuable. The Chrysler property is
worthless shit.

They are separable, although it will be more difficult now
than it was when Chrysler first acquired AMC/Jeep.

Tesha

[MadHound]

10. Hopefully it will go the way of other dinosaurs and disappear

Don't worry, you will be able to get parts and service for your Jeep if it disappears. Most well known brands have tons of parts stockpiled for future sale. I work on old cars, and have seen plenty of ads for various new OEM parts for orphaned cars that are thirty, forty or fifty years old. I've got a'49 DeSoto(once part of the Chrysler group) and have purchased parts for it that were still new in the box. So don't worry, you will be able to maintain your Jeep for the rest of its life.

But frankly I hope that the Jeep label goes away. Too many people are caught up in the mystique of the brand, and use it to rip around unpaved natural areas destroying the enviroment just for their own pleasure. Not to mention the pollution they emit and the gas they suck down. And frankly those things are unsafe, with a high center of gravity they're prone to rolling over.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. Well, that is one way to look at Jeeps.

But I don't think most Jeep owners really offroad a lot - or at all.

I just like my Jeep because I can drive safely in bad weather. I used to be scared to death to drive in snow or when we had a lot of rain. Now I just go. And it is just so fun to drive - five on the floor - and I sit way up where I can see.

But I am really against anyone driving anything into wildnerness areas and tearing them up. Don't care what you are driving - don't tear up the wildnerness. That is a whole different issue for me.

[MadHound]

16. You would be suprised at how many people tear up nature in a Jeep

And other vehicles, though Jeeps do seem to be their favorite. I've seem them rip over sand, soil, through creeks and up hills. It really is disgusting.

I agree about the need for 4 WD in bad weather, but there are other four wheel drives that are safer, use less fuel and are less polluting. Question, do you use your Jeep in times when the weather isn't bad?

Sorry, I'm not trying to be a nag or a scold, just pointing out that we all need to do our part concerning energy. I live out in the country and have a small 4WD pickup. When the weather calls for it, or I need to haul something, I will use it. Otherwise I ride my scooter through the countryside. I tend to look at everyday vehicles as more utilitarian than anything else. If I need a hauling vehicle, I use the truck. If all I need to do is move myself from here to there, I scoot along(though I do think two wheels are much more fun).

My next truck is going to be a diesel so that I can make my own biodiesel for it. Cleaner and easier on the enviroment:shrug:

[leftyladyfrommo]

26. Oh, I am not taking offense.

I don't drive all that much. But all I have is my Jeep.

And I am very against anyone driving anything that tears up the land or disturbs the wild animals.

But I think most people around here (course we are 2,000 miles from the mountains) don't drive anywhere but in town.

One day I will probably turn my Jeep in for a little car that gets 40 miles to the gallon - but It will make me cry. I love my Jeep. It is the only luxury I have. My house is just tiny. I have almost no furniture (because I don't like it). I really live as simply as I can. But I really love my Jeep.

[Horse with no Name]

25. I get 24 miles to the gallon

I have plenty of room to carry my family (with no room to spare).
I can haul small things. If the weather is bad I have 4-wheel drive. Came in handy during a snowstorm while traveling.
And just for your information... I about took a serviceman's head off for slamming the door to my jeep.
So you can pretty much bet that there is not much offroading done here.

[madrchsod]

11. why would chrysler go down?

why would mb put close to a billion dollars into rebuilding a plant in belvedere,illinois if chrysler is going broke? crysler/mb is not going broke anytime soon...

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Sure sounded like it yesterday.

I think they lost a billion dollars last year. Don't have the exact figures but it was pretty grim. Most Chrysler are big luxury cars that get really bad mileage. They don't have any alternatives. And those big cars are really in competition with the German made luxury cars.

[Canuckistanian]

20. They lost money during the oil increase last summer

People stopped buying Chrysler vehicles because most of their sales are in big, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs.

And they STILL have no plans to offer fuel-efficient or alternative fuel models.

If I owned DB stocks, I'd dump them after hearing that news.

[Hav]

29. .

The Daimler stocks seem to do well the last months (up from 50$ to 70$ since October) and the last days especially (did it really go up more than 8% yesterday?? That would be insane.). I guess it's the same one can see so often: whenever a company announces to cut many jobs, the stock goes up. It's perverted, but it seems that's how it works.

[madrchsod]

41. is`t it time for universal health care?

The elimination of 13,000 jobs, which will cut production by 400,000 vehicles a year, is also expected to cut Chrysler's health-care expenses that cost it about US$2.2-billion a year, about two-thirds of which goes to cover retired Chrysler workers and their families.

how much are we spending to preserve the precious juice a week in iraq?

how much is honda or toyota spending on retired workers?

2.2 billion is a lot of r&d money

[dysfunctional press]

32. so what? ford lost 12 Billion last year.

ford will be gone before chrysler.

[INdemo]

18. I agree..And ya know I'd forgotten about that plant in Belvedere

but whats going on with Chrysler is they want to give the UAW weak knees and force them into some concessions. Nope they wont be going anywhere. I'm betting the next step is Chrysler will asking the union for some ridiculous pay cuts...its coming soon......
Never the less the Plant closings are real I hope those employees involved find equal employment.. Every time I see stuff like this happening I think about the downfall of our industry because of NAFTA

[happyslug]

35. The problems started with Freight-liner

Chrysler Owned the Freightliner Truck Company and in the period before the merger with Daimler, Freightliner provided a Lease that was outstanding for the trucking industry, but a money loser for Chrysler.

Chrysler seems to have covered up the problem with Freightliner during the merger talks (But it was known to Daimler), but the leases were cash drain on the merged company. Added to this the failure of Daimler to launch its SMART car into the American Market (the EPA gave the SMART car only a 37mpg rating, poor for such a small car, I suspect the problem was over reveling by the testers to get it up to 50mph, but still a problem for Daimler) Daimler/Chrysler is in a very weak position (if you include the rapid decline in SUV sales since 2001).

[A HERETIC I AM]

38. Chrysler never owned Freightliner Trucks.

Freightliner is one of the few truck manufacturers that was actually started by a trucking company, Consolidated Freightways.

Here is Wikipedias story on Freightliner.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freightliner_LLC

They bought and sold and have been bought and been divested by several firms but none of them were ever Chrysler Motors. They include White Motors, Western Star, Thomasbuilt and Volvo, whose heavy truck division became known as "Volvo/White-GMC" for a time. Consolidated Freightways sold it's interest in the Freightliner name to Mercedes in the '80s, long before Daimler Benz acquired Chrysler.

[happyslug]

42. That what I get from going by memory

I read Daimler was having a problem with Freightliner and that was THE START of its decline.

[Hav]

15. .

If the Jeep brand is profitable, then Daimler would simply keep it.
I heard that while Mercedes + Transporters had a win of around 4 billion €, Chrysler had a loss of more than 1 billion and many, many unsold cars. Maybe it's another taste in the US, but I never liked the way most Chrysler cars looked. I always found them too fat and ugly actually. The product might still be a quality product but obviously they have problems selling them to enough people.

[AngryAmish]

27. Same thing that happened to it before

Jeep used to be part of AMC (the people that brought you the Pacer!). AMC went belly up. Chrysler bought it. Somebody will buy Jeep because people will always want them - at least the Wranglers.

[hlthe2b]

30. Remember Jeep used to be AMC before Chrysler bought it..

(at least I think I remember that).... It will be spun off to another company with little doubt.

[AllegroRondo]

39. Yup, Chrysler bought the entire AMC company, but only kept Jeep and Eagle going.

If D-B were to spin off Chrysler, I could see another company buying it just for the Jeep line.

[happyslug]

31. Jeep has survived SEVERAL business going under

Jeep started under Willy's Motors, which went under in the 1960s. Then Kaiser Motors picked it up, then AMC picked up Kaiser for the Jeep Name. In the 1980s Renault bailed out AMC for access to the Jeep Name, now Chrysler has the Jeep Name.

Remember Jeep is the MOST WIDELY KNOWN AUTOMOTIVE NAME IN THE WORLD. In 10 years I will NOT be surprise if the Jeep name is on some sort of Electric Car, if not a hybrid. In fact given Jeep Traditional Boxy Looks, going to smaller engines (With slower top speed) would hurt it less then the more aerodynamic designed cars (Slower Speed, less wind to worry about).

NO, Jeep has survived several businesses going under, the Jeep name will survive any Chrysler demise.
List of Jeep manufactures:
http://www.webejeepin.com/Jeep_History/Manufacturers.htm

History of the Jeep Name:
http://www.geocities.com/jeeptoys/history.htm

[woodsprite]

36. I had heard Jeep was already looking at alternative

and hybrid designs and had something either on the drawing board or actually in prototype, so maybe it's not too far off. Hubby and I want to get one as a replacement for our minivan, which is giving up the ghost rapidly. I was hoping to hold off until something came out.