(CavemanCircus.com)
Saturday, September 19, 2015
That's A Damn Good Question
Why Doesn’t The Jeep Wrangler Have Any Competitors?
So it’s not like nobody has tried to create a Jeep Wrangler competitor. But in the end, they’ve all failed for two simple reasons: number one, you can’t topple the king. And number two, nobody really cares about this as much as Jeep does. We’ll take each reason individually.
REASON ONE: You can’t topple the king.
Let’s say Ford came out with a Jeep Wrangler competitor tomorrow, and let’s say they called it the Ford Cowboy. And let’s also say that it offered all the same stuff as the Jeep Wrangler, including amazing off-road capabilities, and a 2- or 4-door body style, and modern technology, and a roof that feels like it’s going to fly away like a family pet in a tornado when you’re going more than 70 miles per hour.
Do you think Wrangler enthusiasts would embrace this car? Hell no. They would embrace it about as well as BMW enthusiasts have embraced the Cadillac ATS, which is to say they don’t even notice it because they’re too busy sending text messages as they drive down the interstate.
So in order for Ford to topple the Wrangler, which has an entrenched name and tons of brand loyalty, they would have to devote years of marketing, and tons of effort, and lots of work just to get where the Wrangler already is right now. And this would further be nonsensical because…
REASON TWO: Nobody really cares about this as much as Jeep does.
Let’s say you’re Toyota and the FJ Cruiser is getting older. You have two choices: you could let it die, which would cost nothing, and would alienate people who will probably end up buying a 4Runner anyway. Or you could spend millions of dollars and devote years of market research and engineering effort and dozens of employees to give it a costly redesign and grab, what, maybe 20,000 extra sales?
If you’re Toyota, the choice is easy: you sell 40 zillion cars annually. You do not need the headache that goes along with a unique marketing strategy for a vehicle like the FJ Cruiser, especially when you’re only going to sell it to a small number of people. When Toyota cancelled the FJ Cruiser, the lost sales were merely a blip on the Giant Toyota Radar Screen, sort of like when an elephant steps on a Micro Machine.
But to Jeep, the Wrangler is all they’ve got. I mean, yeah, sure they have the Cherokee, and the Grand Cherokee, and a couple of compact crossovers with interiors made out of stuff that Target wouldn’t put on the shelves. But the Wrangler is the car everyone knows Jeep for. Ditching the Wrangler wouldn’t be a blip to Jeep. It would be a loss of the brand’s identity. So unlike Toyota, Jeep is willing to devote the money and the time and the marketing and the employees to redesigning the Wrangler and keeping it fresh.
Whereas Nissan looks at the Xterra, and they look at the market, and they say to themselves: number one, we know we’ll never be better than the Wrangler in the eyes of the consumer. And number two, we won’t really miss the sales.
And this is why Xterra and FJ Cruiser fans are currently driving around in orphaned vehicles, while Wrangler fans are driving around in a car that will remain popular forever. Let’s hope they remembered to latch the roof.
(Jalopnik.com)
So it’s not like nobody has tried to create a Jeep Wrangler competitor. But in the end, they’ve all failed for two simple reasons: number one, you can’t topple the king. And number two, nobody really cares about this as much as Jeep does. We’ll take each reason individually.
REASON ONE: You can’t topple the king.
Let’s say Ford came out with a Jeep Wrangler competitor tomorrow, and let’s say they called it the Ford Cowboy. And let’s also say that it offered all the same stuff as the Jeep Wrangler, including amazing off-road capabilities, and a 2- or 4-door body style, and modern technology, and a roof that feels like it’s going to fly away like a family pet in a tornado when you’re going more than 70 miles per hour.
Do you think Wrangler enthusiasts would embrace this car? Hell no. They would embrace it about as well as BMW enthusiasts have embraced the Cadillac ATS, which is to say they don’t even notice it because they’re too busy sending text messages as they drive down the interstate.
So in order for Ford to topple the Wrangler, which has an entrenched name and tons of brand loyalty, they would have to devote years of marketing, and tons of effort, and lots of work just to get where the Wrangler already is right now. And this would further be nonsensical because…
REASON TWO: Nobody really cares about this as much as Jeep does.
Let’s say you’re Toyota and the FJ Cruiser is getting older. You have two choices: you could let it die, which would cost nothing, and would alienate people who will probably end up buying a 4Runner anyway. Or you could spend millions of dollars and devote years of market research and engineering effort and dozens of employees to give it a costly redesign and grab, what, maybe 20,000 extra sales?
If you’re Toyota, the choice is easy: you sell 40 zillion cars annually. You do not need the headache that goes along with a unique marketing strategy for a vehicle like the FJ Cruiser, especially when you’re only going to sell it to a small number of people. When Toyota cancelled the FJ Cruiser, the lost sales were merely a blip on the Giant Toyota Radar Screen, sort of like when an elephant steps on a Micro Machine.
But to Jeep, the Wrangler is all they’ve got. I mean, yeah, sure they have the Cherokee, and the Grand Cherokee, and a couple of compact crossovers with interiors made out of stuff that Target wouldn’t put on the shelves. But the Wrangler is the car everyone knows Jeep for. Ditching the Wrangler wouldn’t be a blip to Jeep. It would be a loss of the brand’s identity. So unlike Toyota, Jeep is willing to devote the money and the time and the marketing and the employees to redesigning the Wrangler and keeping it fresh.
Whereas Nissan looks at the Xterra, and they look at the market, and they say to themselves: number one, we know we’ll never be better than the Wrangler in the eyes of the consumer. And number two, we won’t really miss the sales.
And this is why Xterra and FJ Cruiser fans are currently driving around in orphaned vehicles, while Wrangler fans are driving around in a car that will remain popular forever. Let’s hope they remembered to latch the roof.
(Jalopnik.com)
I Want To Join This Club
These Are the Private Clubs We Actually Want to Join
The Thermal Club
Complete list (Thrillist.com)
The Thermal Club
- Palm Springs, CA
- Cost: Undisclosed
- Amenities: 4.5-mile race track, sports cars for rent, luxury villas, world-class dining
Complete list (Thrillist.com)
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