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All About Jeep

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By Gary S. Vasilash

While Jeeps have been rolling along—literally and figuratively—since 1941, and while the competitors have come, gone, and come back again, it seems that the brand has essentially stuck to its knotting,* building vehicles that allow drivers the freedom to go places where other vehicles would fail to get beyond the parking lot.

Jeeps now come in a wider range than ever, with the iconic Wrangler at one end of the spectrum and the Grand Wagoneer at the other.

Spend some time driving a Wrangler on the highway and you’re going to hope that you get to your destination sooner rather than later—and you’re going to hope that the destination includes some serious off-road driving.

Coming in 2024: the fully electric Wagoneer S–although it will likely have a different name by then. (Image: Jeep)

Spend some time driving a Grand Wagoneer and you’re going to hope that you get to your destination eventually (no hurry)—the comfort and amenities make the term “first class” seem numerically weak.

To help get a better understanding of what is this on-going phenomenon, on this edition of “Autoline After Hours” we talk with Jim Morrison, senior vice president and head of Jeep brand North America.

Morrison was appointed senior manager of Product Marketing for Jeep in 2010 and he has been involved with Jeep in several positions since, getting his current one in 2019.

Like other vehicle brands, Jeep is making the transition to electrification, with current plug-in hybrid versions of the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler (both with the nomenclature 4xe) proving themselves to be well accepted in the market.

Jeep has announced that there will be a full battery electric vehicles coming by 2024, the Jeep Recon and the Wagoneer S (with the latter name being a place holder as the Jeep community is getting an opportunity to provide potential names for the vehicle).

Morrison talks about where Jeep has been—and where it is going—with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Roman Mica of TFLcar, and me on this edition of the show.

You can see it here.

*While “knitting” is generally the word used, “knotting” seems more Jeep-like robust.

All About Jeep

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Jim Morrison talks about the venerable brand on this “Autoline After Hours”

The numbers are notable.

Through the first three quarters of 2021 Jeep sold 604,671 vehicles in the U.S.

That makes it, by far, the most important brand within the Stellantis U.S. group.

While everyone knows that pickup trucks are driving the market in a big way, Jeep handily outsold Ram brand, which had sales of 495,410 units.

Of course, in terms of product offerings Ram pretty much has the Ram pickup variants, which accounted for 434,772 of the sales. The ProMaster Van and the ProMaster City account for the rest.

Jeep vp Jim Morrison (Image: Jeep)

In the case of Jeep, there are the Wrangler (164,710) and the Grand Cherokee (189,727). Having two popular models is certainly beneficial.

And as for the other brands—Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat and Alfa Romeo—realize that all in for the first three quarters the entire group had sales of 1,365,881.

Jeep and Ram combined account for 1,100,081 units, so you can figure how the others did.

Jim Morrison is vice president, Jeep Brand North America. On this edition of “Autoline After Hours” he talks with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Mike Austin of Hemmings and me about where the brand is and where it is going.

The importance of having some solid nameplates is something that they’re taking into account which is leading to an expansion of offerings.

For example, the fifth generation Grand Cherokee is now also available as the 4xe (plug-in hybrid) and Grand Cherokee L (a three-row vehicle).

In addition, this year Jeep has also launched the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. The Grand Wagoneer starts at $86,995. It is not only the most sumptuous Jeep, but what is important to note is that it is still a Jeep: the engineers didn’t forget capability when developing the vehicle.

Morrison talks about those vehicles, as well as about the influx of competition that Jeep is now facing, such as with the Ford Bronco and the GMC HUMMER.

He thinks that what is going to happen is that the entire segment is going to grow as people begin to think more and more about vacations that put them behind the wheel of a vehicle and not strapped into a seat on an airplane, and that an increasing number of those vacation trips will be out in the wilds, a place where Jeeps excel.

Morrison also thinks that Jeep will maintain its share of the market, not lose it to the other companies.

He also talks about whether there could be fully battery electric Jeeps, and while he is cautious about talking future product, he does make an interesting statement that encompasses Jeep:

“We don’t care what puts power to the ground. We just want to do it better than anyone else.”

That’s a Jeep thing.

You can see the show here.