Archive for August, 2006
Photos from JK Rubicon Trail Press event appearing.
Despite a media embargo on publishing driving impressions and pricing, photos from DCX’s recent JK press event on the Rubicon Trail have started popping up on the web. 4×4review.com even has a mini-write-up with photos from the event along with basic info on the new 2007 Wranglers. There’s no new info in the article, but the photos are good. You can check out the article here.
In addition, multiple photo albums featuring pics from the event can be found. Auto Exposure out of Canada has a bunch of photos up on their flickr account, and fellow XJer from NAXJA also has a photo album online with pictures from the event. You can see those here.
The media embargo officially lifts 12:01am on September 1st, so you can expect for there to be lots of commotion on the web on friday. I know that Mike over at Rockcrawler.com is poised and ready to post his write-up from the trip come 12:01am friday morning, so if you feel like staying up late on thursday night, be sure to check it out.
No commentsCampJeep Needs our Help!
mike’s totally free JeepNewsNow is reporting that Jeep’s marketing department is considering putting an end to CampJeep. Check out the scoop here and find out how you can help try to keep CampJeep going!
I’ve only had the opportunity to attend CampJeep twice in the past, first for CampJeep1998 which was the last year it was held in Colorado, and then again for CampJeep2002 in Branson, MO. If you’re into Jeeps and the Jeep lifestyle, you’ve got to try to attend CampJeep at least once.
3 commentsNo more Gladiator?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or just don’t spend much time on the internet, you’ve probably already heard the
Right… Having the Dodge Durango and Caliber didn’t stop DCX from building the 7-seat Hemi-powered Jeep Commander, or the Caliber-based mall-cruising Jeep Compass. So why not build the Jeep Gladiator truck? In all likely-hood the Gladiator would appeal to different customers than the Dakota does anyway, and it might actually give DCX a truck to compete against the Toyota Tacoma. By basing it off the new JK platform they could cut production and development costs of the truck and probably increase the overall profitability of the JK platform. DCX is really missing the boat on this one.
1 commentConsumer panel gives the Compass a big THUMBS DOWN.
When a consumer panel put together by the Detroit News recently reviewed the new 2007 Jeep Compass they unanimously gave it a failing grade, despite the same panel giving the 2007 Dodge Caliber (the Compass’ production sibling) a glowing review. 10 of the 10 panelists would recommend the Caliber and 6 of 10 said they’d buy it themselves, but none of those same panelists said they would buy the Compass, and only two said they would recommend it to friends or family. One of those two said they felt the Compass was really only suitable for a “mature” audience, which totally flies in the face of DCX’s youthful target marget for the Compass.
Many of the panelists expressed concern that the Compass was “pointing the brand in the wrong direction” and one even said that they felt the Compass was “spiritually wrong.” In his driving log, one panelist wrote, “Jeep, to me, no longer can justify having that ‘rugged’ reputation attached to its brand name.” And another wrote simply, “That thing is ugly.“
And these weren’t died-in-the-wool Jeepers talking here! The panel was made up of regular men and women from the Detroit area—a hair stylist, two young college students, a Detroit bus driver, an area architect, an insurance executive, two school teachers, and a Ford pipefitter.
My favorite quote by one of the panelists in th article: “If I want a Jeep, I’ll buy a real one.“
Check out the whole article here.
1 comment