Jeep To Use Nostalgia - HopesTo Boost Sales

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. September 6, 2002 - Bloomberg News filed this story. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler unit plans more emphasis on its Jeep sport-utility vehicles' history and off-road capability as the third-largest U.S. automaker tries to double Jeep sales within a decade.

Chrysler wants to boost the brand's annual sales to 800,000 vehicles from about 400,000 now, said Jeff Bell, the automaker's Jeep vice president. The company will change its advertising slogan back to the mid-1980s theme of "Only in a Jeep" and use a logo that features the seven-slot grill and round headlights found on World War II models, he said.

The focus on history is "a little contradictory since they want to broaden the kinds of vehicles they sell," said analyst Alan Baum at automotive forecaster Planning Edge. "But it would hurt them more if they tried to say they were going to sell a softer Jeep."

Chrysler is considering new Jeep models, ranging from pickup-truck versions of the Wrangler to a more carlike derivative of the Liberty, analysts said. The automaker wants to increase total annual sales by 1 million cars and trucks by 2011. Chrysler lost $1.9 billion last year and is trying to break even or earn a profit this year.

Jeep sales rose 36 percent from a year earlier to 51,603 vehicles in August, the best month ever for the brand, said Gary Dilts, Chrysler senior vice president of sales, in a conference call this week. Jeep sales have risen 1.7 percent in this month's first eight months, according to Autodata Corp.

New advertising starting next week will focus on Jeep as one of the original four-wheel-drive vehicles and show it in more rugged terrain, said Jay Kuhnie, the brand's director of communications. Jeep also will have more customer events with adventure themes and more marketing intended to appeal to minorities, he said.

The Jeep, considered by many analysts as the first sport-utility vehicle, faces competition from vehicles such as Toyota Motor Corp.'s Sequoia and Honda Motor Co.'s Honda Pilot and Acura MDX. Jeep's share of the U.S. sport-utility market has dropped to 15 percent this year from 30 percent in 1993, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.

Jeeps have been built for 61 years, starting with models designed for the U.S. government in World War II, the company said. Willys-Overland Motor Corp., designer of the Jeep, had the first all-steel station wagon model in 1946 and added four-wheel drive in 1949. Chrysler took over the Jeep brand in a 1987 acquisition of American Motors Corp.