Seattle Auto Show - Jeep FAIL!

dan_public said:

Regarding not letting people touch it because it's pre production... There are 18,000 production vehicles sitting in a lot somewhere waiting for a transmission software upgrade. It is incredibly stupid to show pre-prod vehicles when you have thousands of available production vehicles just sitting around.

Regarding the talking head... He has nothing to do with corporate strategy. He's either a low level employee or a contractor hired to repeat the Jeep marketing spam at trade shows. The "Don't Touch" strategy comes from Jeep corp, and it reflects VERY poorly on the company.

I'm giving up on the Jeep because of the company and not the car - it's not a car failure, it's a company failure. In the past several months, they have failed to deliver in many ways. What I see is rank stupidity. While there may be some new blood in the company, they still need to get rid of some top management. Over the coming months, you will see continuing problems in many areas. They will drop the ball over and over. Count on it.

I was hopeful that Chrysler reinvent itself. That has not happened. I want the Cherokee, but I have NO faith in the company.

Dan.

p.s. I forgot to mention... See those four people listening to the talking head? I was only there for a few minutes, that is the MOST people I saw stopping and looking. Everyone else just looked at it for a few seconds and then kept on walking. As a promotional opportunity, it was a complete failure.

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You certainly are entitled to your opinion but I strongly disagree with you. Part of the problem with your opinion is that you are assuming a few things and you know what they say about assuming. I will tell you that you have several of your facts wrong as I live just down the road from Chrysler Headquarters. You are entirely wrong about 18,000 vehicles sitting in a single lot. They are scattered in lots across the country so they can be delivered to dealers quickly. I believe the closet big lot to me is in Taylor, Michigan and it has about 3,000 Cherokees in it. Everyone of those cars has already been sold/spoken for so Chrysler legally can't play around with them or put them in auto shows. They are not waiting for software upgrades, those have already been done. Chrysler hired independent contractors across the country to speed that up. Here in Michigan most of the Cherokees from the Michigan lots are already loaded up on car haulers just waiting for the command to deliver them. I am not concerned about the supposed lack of interest in your area for the Cherokee. I don't exactly consider your area a hot bed of new car enthusiasm. The Cherokee was already introduced at the New York and Detroit International Auto Shows back in January to large crowds and wide spread enthusiasm. Also, the Toledo Jeep Assembly plant is currently working two 9 hour shifts and can't keep up with demand for the Cherokee. They will soon go to a 24/6 schedule of either two shifts of 12 hours or hire a third shift and work the three shifts 8 hours each. Chrysler has yet to build a Cherokee on spec. All builds currently are either customer or dealer order. Lastly, not counting customer orders my dealer has 23 Cherokees coming in and has a waiting list on those long enough he could sell each 6 times over. As nicely as I can put it. please get your ducks in a row before you voice your opinion. I have my order in for a nearly $40,000 Jeep Cherokee Limited and sleep well at night with my decision. Chrysler has always had customer service and dealer problems. People who buy Chrysler products know that and just take it as a matter of course. If you can't handle that perhaps one of the foreign "want to be" products would be better suited for you. I can tell you this though: Borrowing from another commercial, "Once you go Jeep, you will never go back".

dan_public said:

First, you made my point. Whether they have one lot or 100 lots is not relevant. And they are pumping them out. THEY HAVE LOTS OF AVAILABLE PRODUCTION CARS FOR AUTO SHOWS! Showing a preprod car when they have lots of production cars available is dumb. And keeping customers from touching their cars is a sign of fear!
Dan.

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You obviously didn't read what I wrote very carefully. Chrysler has absolutely ZEREO Cherokees available for auto shows at this point. All cars presently built are sold and Chrysler can't legally play around with them. Why do you think the Cherokee you saw was a pre production model? Because Chrysler has no production models available to use for auto shows at the present time. Think of the law suits they would be opening themselves up to if they allowed people to paw over and sit in an already sold Cherokee from those storage lots. I know I would be very upset if I found out that the car that I ordered had been used at an auto show and people were allowed to paw over it and sit in it. Chrysler has not built one spec Cherokee yet to the best of my knowledge. Do you even know what a spec car is? It is a car built primarily to display that has not specifically been ordered or sold.

I mean no offense but after reading all of your posts I am convinced you are not the type of buyer Chrysler/Jeep is looking for with the new Cherokee. The new Cherokee is cutting edge and is made for people willing to take a chance on things unproven. I think you would be happier buying a car that has been out for a while, has a proven track record, and is available for you to check out. There is no way Chrysler could legally fulfill what you feel they should be providing you. All of the people on this forum who have ordered a Cherokee have pretty much done so on blind faith. You don't seem to be able to do that so I really don't think this is the vehicle for you.