New Jeep Grand Cherokee Arrives in 2011

Chrysler LLC is preparing to spend $281 million to renovate the Jefferson
North Assembly plant in Detroit where the company now builds the Jeep Grand
Cherokee and Jeep Commander. The automaker hasn't said anything publicly at
the future Grand Cherokee but privately Chrysler officials have confirmed
that the money is being spent to produce new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee,
starting in the summer and fall of 2010. The Jeep Commander, which also is
built at Jefferson North, will probably be dropped as Chrysler reduces the
number of models it builds as part of the effort to right-size the company
for its shrunken market share, analysts have suggested.

While the Commander gets decommissioned, the new Grand Cherokee-one of the
Chrysler's signature vehicles-will come with an optional diesel engine made
by Daimler AG or with an optional two-mode hybrid system, which Chrysler has
developed jointly through a joint venture with General Motors, Daimler and
BMW, Chrysler officials indicated privately last week. In addition, the 2011
Grand Cherokee will be one of the very first vehicles engineered and sourced
under the tough regime being installed by Chrysler's new chief executive
officer Robert Nardelli and vice chairman and president Jim Press. Both
Press and Nardelli are taking a direct role in decisions on the new Grand
Cherokee, Chrysler sources said.

Key supply contracts will be awarded in the next few months but the new
purchasing regime installed by Nardelli is having a huge impact. At the same
time, the influence of Daimler's product development system on Chrysler
decisions is rapidly diminishing. The new Grand Cherokee, however, will have
to be developed for export, which probably means it is being developed for
both right and left-hand drive markets. "Developing foreign markets is a
priority for us," noted one Chrysler officials. Nardelli said back in
January that as Chrysler expands its overseas sales operations, it also
plans to do more design and engineering work in places such as China and
Eastern Europe

Vintage added these comments in the current discussion du jour
....

> Chrysler LLC is preparing to spend $281 million to renovate
> the Jefferson North Assembly plant in Detroit where the
> company now builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Commander.
> The automaker hasn't said anything publicly at the future
> Grand Cherokee but privately Chrysler officials have confirmed
> that the money is being spent to produce new 2011 Jeep Grand
> Cherokee, starting in the summer and fall of 2010. The Jeep
> Commander, which also is built at Jefferson North, will
> probably be dropped as Chrysler reduces the number of models
> it builds as part of the effort to right-size the company for
> its shrunken market share, analysts have suggested.

Detroit City Council is preparing a letter with 12 questions for
Chrysler in it and they announced yesterday that they intend to
add a couple more for this proposed expansion, namely they want
Chrysler to give residents and suppliers within the city
priority. Council also wants to know whatever happened from the
13 or so tax abatements granted for JNAP alone since 1994 when
Chrysler said they would emply 4,000 people, yet the number has
dropped to only 1,500 with the just-announced shut-down of the
2nd shift.

> While the Commander gets decommissioned, the new Grand
> Cherokee-one of the Chrysler's signature vehicles-will come
> with an optional diesel engine made by Daimler AG or with an
> optional two-mode hybrid system, which Chrysler has developed
> jointly through a joint venture with General Motors, Daimler
> and BMW, Chrysler officials indicated privately last week. In
> addition, the 2011 Grand Cherokee will be one of the very
> first vehicles engineered and sourced under the tough regime
> being installed by Chrysler's new chief executive officer
> Robert Nardelli and vice chairman and president Jim Press.
> Both Press and Nardelli are taking a direct role in decisions
> on the new Grand Cherokee, Chrysler sources said.
>
> Key supply contracts will be awarded in the next few months
> but the new purchasing regime installed by Nardelli is having
> a huge impact. At the same time, the influence of Daimler's
> product development system on Chrysler decisions is rapidly
> diminishing. The new Grand Cherokee, however, will have to be
> developed for export, which probably means it is being
> developed for both right and left-hand drive markets.
> "Developing foreign markets is a priority for us," noted one
> Chrysler officials. Nardelli said back in January that as
> Chrysler expands its overseas sales operations, it also plans
> to do more design and engineering work in places such as China
> and Eastern Europe
>
One of the really bright things that Bob Nardelli did when he
came to Chrysler is go through the product plan with a fine tooth
comb and challenge all the old assumptions beginning with
styling, features, and model mix. I think that was far overdue. I
haven't heard perenially negative John Bradley's take, but I was
majorly ****ed off at Tom LaSorda's golden parachue of $15.7M for
arranging the sale of Chrysler to Cerberus.

--
HP, aka Jerry

"Surely you jest - and don't call me Shirley!" - from the movie
"Airplane!"