PY PHOTOS OFFER SNEAK PEEK AT TOLEDO-BUILT MODEL

Liberty may offer a retractable roof

Zoom | Photo Reprints

By JULIE M. McKINNON
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

Along with its Toledo factory line, the redesigned Jeep Liberty surely will share some parts with the 2007 Dodge Nitro, such as an optional sliding cargo floor that can hold up to 400 pounds.

But spy photographs, obtained by The Blade, of a heavily-masked version of the 2008 Liberty to be built next year camouflage a feature unique to the sport-utility vehicle: an apparent retractable fabric roof system that folds like an accordion.

The pictures also show a squared-off back end, akin to the discontinued Jeep Cherokee, and the spare tire mounted underneath the vehicle, no longer on the tailgate.

The retractable roof option could benefit the Liberty in an increasingly competitive market, which both the Nitro and four-door 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited entered this year, an auto analyst said. Yet noise and other problems could arise unless the roof is well designed, said Rebecca Lindland of Global Insight Inc. "You have to do something innovative and creative to get attention," she said.

DaimlerChrysler AG spokesman Dianna Gutierrez declined to comment on the redesigned Liberty, saying the automaker does not talk about future products or spy shots.

Production of the new Liberty is to begin next year at Toledo Jeep Assembly complex, replacing the vehicle that succeeded the long-lived Cherokee five years ago. Chrysler this year added production at the Liberty factories of the all-new Nitro, from which the redesigned Liberty will be based.

The spy photographs show a more boxy outside style, which could be good news for Jeep dealers looking for fresh products - and customers who don't like the current model's curves.

"People today still ask me about the Cherokee," said Jack Streit, assistant Jeep manager at Yark Automotive Group in Sylvania Township. "People miss that car."

Spy photographer Brenda Priddy of Brenda Priddy & Co. in Chandler, Ariz., said industry sources who were asked about the upcoming Liberty kept mentioning the Cosmos prototype debuted this year by ASC Inc.

The auto supplier integrated its fabric roof system into a Hummer H3 for the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, saying at the time it also can be made of glass or resin.

Officials at ASC, which has repeatedly touted its roof system this year, declined to comment yesterday and referred questions to DaimlerChrysler. A top ASC official has predicted such "sunvertible" systems will be installed on more than 1 million SUVs and other vehicles a year by 2012.

Other features the redesigned Liberty and Nitro likely will share are electronic stability control, front and back side-curtain airbags, and the optional sliding cargo floor. It will add a 4.0-liter V-6 engine as an option to the current Liberty's 3.7-liter V-6, both of which the Nitro offers.

Ms. Priddy, the spy photographer, said the redesigned Liberty's tailgate will lift up, as it did on the Cherokee, instead of swinging out to the side.