Autoweek: 05 Grand Cherokee update

[hemidakota]

08:37 July 19, 2004)
Grand Cherokee gets a new pitch; refinement, ruggedness pushed
by JASON STEIN | Automotive News

[font='MS Sans Serif',Geneva,sans-serif] Jeep introduces its redesigned Grand Cherokee, above, this fall, a new marketing message will emphasize its on- and off-road features[/font]

DETROIT -- Jeep, which used ruggedness as its marketing theme for years, will take a three-part approach when the 2005 Grand Cherokee launches in October.

Jeep will give its redesigned vehicle a new tag line: "The off-road legend continues. The on-road legend begins." The campaign also will stress that the vehicle is still "Trail Rated."

The message is a departure for a division known for off-road driving. But industry analysts say the shift was inevitable because the Grand Cherokee must not only satisfy hard-core Jeep loyalists but also compete with refined SUVs.

In 2003, Grand Cherokee sales fell 7.5 percent to 207,479 vehicles, down from 224,233 in 2002. For the first six months of 2004, Jeep sales were up 6.0 percent to 95,118 vehicles from 89,728 in the year-ago period.

As a brand, Jeep had 19.0 percent of the U.S. SUV market in 1999 but only 9.9 percent in 2003.

"Literally, the SUV market passed Jeep by," says Jim Hall, vice president of the AutoPacific Inc. consulting firm in Tustin, Calif.

A number of new four-wheel-drive SUVs offer a more refined ride. So Jeep has changed its marketing focus from durability to the redesigned Grand Cherokee's on-road additions.

Those additions include a reworked suspension, a Hemi engine, improved seats and a rear-entertainment system.

"The market forced them to change," Hall says. "But the question is whether that is five years too late."

Jeep benchmarked the Ford Explorer, Chevrolet TrailBlazer and Lexus RX 330 when it redesigned the Grand Cherokee, says Mark Heber, the vehicle's brand manager.

"Ten percent of Jeep Grand Cherokee customers left for a reason," Heber says. "The marketplace expects creature comforts these days."

But could three marketing messages be too many? Not necessarily, Hall says, if Jeep tailors the messages appropriately to different kinds of Grand Cherokee buyers.

"If they know what they want to say, they can say it in certain venues," he says. "As long as they don't do their mass marketing with three messages, they'll be fine. But they know there are enough outlets to focus their individual messages to the right audience."

[Haggar]

You forgot:

Featuring a spiffy Anti-Pinch sunroof designed by Haggar

[hemidakota]

you was the engineer for new type sunroof?

[thehemi]

"Creature Comforts" and "Trail Rated" should be polar opposites.
I can only imagine you have to compromise on both to reach the
middle ground. Hopefully Jeep is able to pull it off successfully.

A nice Hemi version never hurts.