Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty to merge into one vehicle
AutoBlog.com
Posted Sep 5th 2008 1:29PM by Jeremy Korzeniewski
Filed under: SUVs, Dodge, Jeep



News out of Toledo is that Chrysler plans to drop either the Jeep Liberty or the Dodge Nitro within four years and merge the two vehicles into one. These two 'utes are built on the same exact platform, use basically the same engines and are built in the same Toledo plant. There is no good reason for both of them to exist, which makes us wonder why they ever did in the first place and why it will take three years to correct. Regardless, considering that Jeep will always be the off-road brand, it would make most sense to keep the Liberty name going. Losing the Nitro, meanwhile, might actually help Dodge improve its image as a volume performance brand.

This convergence of duplicate vehicles is part of Chrysler's Project Genesis plan. Under the plan, dealers will begin to offer Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles under the same roof. Other nameplates that are or should be converged include the Jeep Compass/Jeep Patriot and Dodge Durango/Chrysler Aspen, the latter of which could see themselves replaced by a new model with Jeep underpinnings.

[Source: The Toledo Blade]

 

How would the Nitro boost their volume performance image? If that is what they want, make the Avenger R/T earn the R/T badge and give it a higher performance engine option. What I can't figure out is why they didn't just offer the 4.0L in the new Liberty as the base engine. If they would have went with less performance focused gearing and with more efficient gearing, I would tend to believe they could match or exceed the 3.7L's fuel economy and have a more competitive offering with the current alternatives in the market.

Also why didn't they try to develop another CRD model that could pass the current emission standards for those who want a diesel for the real reason why you buy such a model (to save money on fuel and not because you can afford to spend $40K and want slightly better mileage than a hemi for a novelty).

I hope the next generation Liberty quits trying to look like the Cherokee/Commander/Patriot. I liked the original Liberty because it reminded me of the Wrangler yet it had its own personality.

 

honestly, R/T was in the 60's-70's a great era of really high performance cars. But now Dodge have been using this badge as a "high" class cars. I do believe that this R/T fashion, should be gone. If Dodge, will use this badge in any car (even SUVs), what's the purpose of it? The SRT8 replaced the original R/T IDEOLOGY.Any way, if the Nitro would still be in production, in a future, the R/T should be a really high performance automobile, and the sales would go sky-rocket, I believe.

 

I fully agree that the old Liberty was superior to the new one. And I for one, hate what they are doing to the Jeep lineup. Patriot? Compass? Too many vehicles that are more "Chrysler" like than "Jeep" like.
The only profitable lineup they have is the Jeep brand, hell, everytime there's news of Chrysler being for sale or in serious trouble, there is always news of someone willing to pay for the Jeep brand by itself.
They keep screwing around and making the lineup less "Jeep" like and they'll have it screwed up too.

 

I like the Patriot, its actually somewhat capable, however I think the compass was a bad choice on their part.

 

Personally, I think they started going downhill a little when the Daimler influence produced Jeeps first IFS vehicle, the Liberty, which replaced the venerable old Cherokee. Then in an attempt to attract more soccer moms to the fold, the Grand Cherokee got an IFS front.
Jeeps are supposed to be rugged, solid front axle, stiff riding, go anywhere beasts with venerable, solid, simple engines which are short on performance, but long lived and reliable. They have lost a lot of their die-hard followers in all but the Wrangler segment. The Unlimited holds a lot of appeal for the old Cherokee faithfull, but I'm just waiting for them to funk up the Wrangler next...

 

There were things about the Liberty that I didn't like as well as the Cherokee. Although I welcomed the styling change and much better interior, I never liked the 3.7L as well as I liked the good, old, unrefined, rugged, heritage AMC 4.0L I6. The new Liberty just irritates me as there is nothing about it that I like over the old one.

Daimler managed to take a healthy, successful Chrysler and transform them into AMC. No competitive car line, financially in the hole, depending on trucks and SUVs for their survival, badge engineering instead of creating their own products, etc.

The current GC needs a better interior more than anything else if you ask me. My cousin's 02 has way nicer interior materials than the current one has. They also need a better V6 offering. The point of having a mid-sized SUV is supposed to be that you can have a V6 comfortably with a V8 for fun, not have a V8 to be comfortable and for those who didn't test drive the vehicle before they bought it are suckered into having the V6.

I agree on the Compass and Patriot though I'm more forgiving of the Patriot. I hate the Compass, it has no business wearing the Jeep badge. That is why Chrysler had Eagle to fill in for cars like that. Plus the Patriot needs a V6 and a normal automatic transmission over those annoying CVTs.

 

Ditch the Patriot, keep the Compass. I posted this in another thread, and Im repasting but trust me there's a good reason why:

Being a Wrangler owner who would like a car thats fast, handles good and stylish while getting good gas mileage I do see potential in the Compass. Hell not 45 min ago I saw a solid black one with the rallye appearance package and it wasnt a bad looking car but it lacks any substance. What Jeep needs to do is back a team in World Rally Cross with one to give it the street creds. Offer a Rallye SRT-4 package with the current bodykit driving lites and grey wheels with turbo, awd and close ratio 5 or even 6 spd stick as the only drivetrain. Price it competitively with the subaru STI and mitsu Evo and make sure it can spank either of those on the street.

The reason hardcore jeepers arent going for the compass is because its a car trying to be a Jeep. Make it a performance car that does the kind of off-roading a performance car is meant for and it'll sell. Rallying may not be near as popular here as abroad but theres no reason why it cant be. Its just as much legit form of offroading as rock crawling or anything else. If Jeep fielded a 3 time champion WRC compass, it'd get the respect it deserves. Jeep owners wouldnt have to go to other makes for something thats economical to drive for the daily commute and theyd probably steal some business away from subaru and mitsubishi in the process.

 

A Rallye addition is the only Compass I would like.

 

Agreed. But its gotta have the muscle under the hood to back up the looks, even if its just available on a top level model. Bottom line is, if Jeep is gonna build a car I have no problem with that, but it has to have it where it counts. Jeep isnt an econobox brand.