April15
Seven months ago, in October, Leftlane exclusively reported Chrysler planned to kill off the Jeep Commander some time in 2009, tipped by supplier sources. This week, financial publication Bloomberg said sources at Chrysler parent company Cerberus Capital Management confirmed the worst-selling Jeep model is done for.
What the new reported failed to mention is something our sources have been saying for months — once the Commander is gone it will be replaced by a long-wheelbase version of the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Some sources say the next-gen Grand Cherokee will be built on a chassis shared with Mercedes-Benz. Sources indicated this is still the plan even after the separation of Daimler and Chrysler. Obviously Chrysler’s new management wants to save wherever possible — sharing the cost of chassis development (which is hugely expensive) is a great way to do that. That said, it would be wise to keep in mind that Chrysler is still in the midst of a turn around and anything is possible.
Introduced at the New York auto show in 2005, the Commander will only go for one life cycle. Slow sales and company reorganization — along with weak fuel economy and poor reviews — have doomed Jeep’s seven-passenger ‘ute.
Jeep sold 88,000 Commanders in 2006 thanks to heavy discounts, averaging between $6,000 and $8,000. Analysts suspect the Commander mostly cannibalized sales of the slightly smaller Grand Cherokee, rather than bringing in new customers. The company sold 139,000 Grand Cherokees last year, down 75,000 from the previous year.
What an abortion of a vehicle that turned out to be
it looked good… but why wouldnt you want a grand cherokee instead?
It wasn’t that it was a horrible vehicle. Too cramped rear seats, only a few minor inches longer than the Grand Cherokee, dismal fuel economy and a cheap feeling interior, as well as not that many available features/capabilities. It may have had slightly better sales with the CRD turbo-diesel available in Europe, better horsepower ratings than most 4 liter V-6’s in those sort of SUV’s.
Another thing worth mentioning is it’s styling. I see Jeep going for a more boxy look, why? The original Wrangler, while being the best example of a “one box design” or “two box design”, depending on how you look at it, wasn’t so square. It seems to me that, all Jeep wants to do is make boxes anymore- they don’t care how it looks or how it performs, just as long as it looks like a box. The damn headlights, tail lights, roof racks, everything has to fit into the designers stereotype of a Jeep, and what a small mind that must be.
Personally, I don’t think Chrysler needs better styling or anything, I think they need a much better consumer base, better quality and more reliable vehicles. They came back out of financial trouble with cars like the K-car and Chrysler/Dodge van twins, both simple and reliable vehicles. I don’t see Cerberus viewing this as Chrysler future however, and that maybe it’s downfall.
Yes, kill it, it deserves to die.
Yeah, this thing was Daimler’s idea, and it was a bad one.
Good, one less SUV obstructing my view when I’m driving my ‘09 Challenger R/T…
Worst selling model? My gawd, just how many visually impaired out there are buying the Compass?
i always thought the commander was cool. i can see why they would discontinue it though.
They should extend this and kill all the useless SUVs!
haha
All Jeep should do is offer a 7 seat stretched Grand Cherokee and that will fill the void in the lineup
I hope Cerebrus cleans up the Jeep line they can be so much better They still have a semi following
I love how something that is supposedly “confirmed” is downgraded to “likely” in the same sentence.
Another step towards curbing Chryco’s sick compulsion to throw about fifty different vehicles at the same market niche: Commander, Nitro, Grand Cherokee, Aspen, Durango… Jesus, you fool, pick one. Any one.
It was a bad idea to begin with.
1115: you’re right, but i think it’s just a matter of time before jeep is sold to the Germans
Thanks be to the automotive gods! The first of the gas guzzling moster SUVs bites the dust!
Now… let’s follow it with the Durango… and get GM to jump on board and ditch the Escalade and Suburban.
Soon enough manufacturers are going to realise that the easiest way to meet the new CAFE standards is going to be to simply stop producing these behemoths that I so often see a single person driving around in.
The Commander was launched so that Jeep could offer a 7-seat vehicle that wasn’t a Durango. It’s only slightly longer than the GC, and BOTH of them are shorter than a Chevrolet Equinox.
From a marketing perspective, the Commander made sense. Problem is, it’s not a particularly good 7-seater.
And I don’t know where TomF gets the idea that the Nitro and Grand Cherokee compete with the Commander, Aspen, and Durango.
The Nitro is a compact SUV, and the GC is a midsize. Durango and Aspen are full-size SUVs.
What bothers me most, however is the title of this story - “Confirmed: Jeep likely to discontinue Commander next year”. Why use “likely” if the cancellation is “confirmed”?
I liked this car but with a 19gal gas tank and a hemi, you couldn’t get 300 miles out of one tank - retarded!!
WTF RaineMan, just because your so ignorant or stupid im gonna drive around for no reason in my Ls2 powered Trailblazer to piss you off.
I liked it.
But I guess it was way to close to the GC to avoid cannibalizing.
You have to fill that blazer up with gas first, I’m glad you can afford it with your UAW and all.
careful- RaineMan might be one of those Eco-Terrorist we hear so much about- hold up, let me start up Hummer and let it sit in the drive way idle for a good couple of hours while i watch TV
I don’t know if I have EVER seen one on the road in it’s few years of production. Good riddance.
My paychecks come from GM buddy, my god you suck Hemiheadgiver.
You’d real mad if you saw the size of my house hemi seeing you live in you moms crib still with you engineering degree, pussy.
Like i give a **** about hoew the Japanese talk to you, whi the **** do you think you are, you know your silly ass will be out of a job wayyyyy before me and you know it.
^who
“I liked this car but with a 19gal gas tank and a hemi, you couldn’t get 300 miles out of one tank - retarded!!”
Comment by phiftywon, posted on April15 at 1:26 pm
That’s nothing. The Wrangler’s 3.8L V6 also has a 19 gallon tank, and it gets 300 KILOMETERS to the tank in the city, or just under 200 MILES. Suck on that.
Ha! 400horse****, your job will go overseas in no time. I didn’t know they made a quadruple wide trailer, I guess that’s big for you, you must think the same about your little dick. Anyway, go ahead and lose your job, I don’t give a **** about other Americans jobs anymore, I try and support them but they get an attitude and talk ****. Then you can serve me my Whopper the way I want it bitch at your job at Burger King. And you better be wearing the cardboard crown hat too bitch!
Your annoying me little boy and you need to be put down, like i give a **** about you supporting me, and also Hyundai is korean you racist dumb ****, do us a favor a turn your cavalier on and close the garage door you little prick.
I thought the Commander was a good looking vehicle… but they made a mistakes with it (which most likely stemmed from Diamler ineptitude) - they should have made it bigger and they should have based it on a Ram chassis… then they should have made it as luxurious as possible. Had they done that, they could have cashed in big time on the inherent brand equity built into one of their fabled nameplates - the Wagoneer (Grand, Super, Limited… any would do). The Grand Wagoneer/Wagoneer Limited was THE granddaddy of full-size, luxury SUVs… had Diamler any sense of Jeep heritage, they could have definitely cashed in on it. The styling was right and the price point was right… it was just too small and not appointed well enough.
While it may not be in the cards for the immediate future… I do hope that the new owners realize that Jeep needs a full-size SUV thats as luxurious as it is capable to round out and top off the brand.
Daimler had nothing to do with the comander, it was originally supposed to be a 5 seat vehicle that would slot in under the grand cherokee, a sort of cherokee replacement, less luxurious trim etc., until some dicksplash at chrysler came up with the grand idea of adding two extra seats where there shouldn’t be and adding about 8 grand to the pricetag. (don’t put kids in the rearmost seats either because if you get rear ended they get pushed through the roof!)
If you’ve ever been in one you can easily see that the trim levels are very cheap, which would have suited its original market. I used to have the 4.7 v8 and despite what the trip computer might tell you it would never get over 250 miles to a tankfull. Its a shame the uaw prevented the 3.0 v6 liter diesel that they have in Europe from being imported as that would have made much more sense. (in case you didn’t know the UAW prevents Chrylse from bringing in any vehicles not made by chrysler into the usa, the diesel euro stuff is built by magna in Austria, just another reason to dislike the UAW…..