Although Chrysler has several wrinkles to iron out in its North American operations, eliminating product overlap is a key priority for the Michigan automaker. Chrysler is moving to get all three of its brands –Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep — under one dealership roof, which makes like-vehicles more redundant than ever. The new direction will see more than a few models ride off into the sunset, the first of which will either be the Dodge Nitro of Jeep Liberty.
According to Steven Landry, Chrysler’s vice president of North American sales, the two SUV models will merge within three years. “If you put sales of Liberty and Nitro together, it’s doing what we want it to do,” Landry told the Toledo Blade. “As we move toward 2012, we won’t have this dual branding.”
Of the two, the Liberty remains the most popular, with 4,654 sales in August. The Nitro tallied 1,991 sales last month. Both figure are down compared to the same month last year, but are actually more the 20 percent better than July’s results.
Industry experts have long expected the slow-selling Nitro to get the ax, and it looks like its time may be coming. Chrysler new design head, Ralph Gilles, has also said that Chrysler’s look will move from ‘edge’ to ‘organic’, further indicating that the Nitro is not long for the world.
09/05, 2:23 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
“Of the two, the Liberty remains the most popular” – Probably because it doesn’t look like an Urban Assault Vehicle.
09/05, 2:46 PM
posted by:
Need more oil for GM
Steven Landry will be riding off into the sunset pretty soon too. The Company is on its way towards extinction and he’s worried about merging two slow selling, ugly piece of crap SUV’s. Get a clue moron. Why don’t you try following a smarter business model and focusing on fuel efficiency for once? What does Chrysler have in the small car arena that is worth buying? Really? GM is about to follow up it’s wildly popular Cobalt with the Chevy Cruze and it’ll be yet another huge smash hit. They also have a class leading midsize with the Chevy Malibu (and Saturn Aura) that destroys the competition in fuel efficiency. What do you have, the POS Avenger? pffft.
Where’s your Volt? Millions of Americans are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the biggest achievment in automotive history and what are you pushing, RAM pickups?
Seriously, get a clue or just go away.
09/05, 2:46 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
Isn’t the Nitro already organic seeing as looks like sh*t?
09/05, 2:56 PM
posted by:
A4
jeeze it was like having one lane open into two for all of 50 feet and now its just going right back, waste of effort. The nitro never made it to production from concept properly. Liberty is crap too. Give us back a cherokee and design a new I-6.
09/05, 2:59 PM
posted by:
beatusmongous
Amen, A4.
09/05, 3:18 PM
posted by:
Need more oil for GM
Maybe Chrysler would have been better off taking the money it spent on the Nitro and developing a decent Aveo/G3 competitor. Just stupid.
09/05, 3:39 PM
posted by:
MercMark
Is this reverse badge engineering?
Badgemerging?
09/05, 3:46 PM
posted by:
inline6
This will be a good move for Jeep. Dodge’s SUV strategy was always critically flawed, and the Nitro just proves the lack of decisive planning that went on at Chrysler. It needs to go.
Dodge needs to be mainstream cars, crossovers, and pickups. Chrysler needs to get fully into the luxury side, and Jeep needs to stay SUVs.
Killing the Nitro is a no-brainer.
09/05, 4:49 PM
posted by:
VWgrouP
The Nitro and the Liberty are the same cars..just different names. And CHrysler Dodge and Jeep are all in one dealership..atleast in Canada they are..
09/05, 5:04 PM
posted by:
VWgrouP
Why doesnt Daimler Chrysler just merge Chrysler Dodge and Jeep into one company..
Why would you have 2 different names for one car? Like the Nirto/Liberty, or Grand Caravan/Town and Country..just name them one thing..
Same with GM..Why would you have 70 different names for one car like the Pontiac Montanna/Saturn/Chevrolet/Oldsmobile/what ever els there is…they are all the same van..
09/05, 5:36 PM
posted by:
DeansterTJ
The Liberty redesign was a good thing, but it got bit in the ass at the last second by gas prices. Suddenly a boxy SUV is unpopular. The Nitro is atrocious, so killing it makes sense.
What they might have to do is redesign the Liberty and give it some girly CUV curves so it appeals to more gas-conscious people, ie. the Murano or the Mazda CX-7. Neither gets decent mileage, but people forgive that because they look cute and CUV-ish.
09/05, 6:14 PM
posted by:
VWgrouP
Yeah when I was in LA this summer I rented a Nitro and it is nasty..
09/05, 7:59 PM
posted by:
JoshyLofty
inline6— couldn’t have said it better myself!!!
09/05, 8:01 PM
posted by:
Need4SSpeed
Get rid of the Nitro! Please! It’s ugly as sin…
I actually like the looks of the new Liberty. They should keep that.
09/05, 11:26 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
The new Liberty- too damn overweight, too damn ugly, too damn cruddy. Same goes for the Nitro. Neither of them are good vehicles. The Liberty was actually a really cool SUV when it first came out. Nifty, capable and simple. But, they’ve screwed with the original formula.
09/06, 1:01 AM
posted by:
VWgrouP
I agree, I liked the first few generation Libertys..pracible and okay looking
I have a few problems with Jeep:
First, starting price for Grand Cherokee 40 grand?!
Second, I hate the Compass and Patriot, they look horrble!
Third, Jeep should be SUVs not this crossover/compact SUV crap
09/06, 1:05 AM
posted by:
maxcar
i agree. the liberty had that no fuss, rugged styling when it first came out. then they fracked it all up. couldn’t care less about the nitro.
09/06, 7:17 AM
posted by:
MoparMan
Maxcar,
Agree with you and VWgroup about the first-gen Liberty. I thought it was a good design in and out. But I remember many people claiming at the time that the curves made it too “girly” for a Jeep. So then came the nondescript box look without the charm of the Cherokee. Eeesh. I hope the redesign is better.
Patriot is okay in some ways, but the Compass is vile. Nitro may have been a good idea in concept form for another time, but its current iteration gotsa to GO! Hope it’s not too late for what is obviously a good move …
09/06, 10:43 AM
posted by:
olds307
LIBERTY SUCKS
The ONLY good Jeep was the old XJ Cherokee. Anything made since sucks.