Automaker sets plans for Jeep Gladiator aside
 ( THE BLADE ) |
Despite raves from fans and dealers, DaimlerChrysler AG has decided not to build the Jeep Gladiator concept, a pickup that seemed like an ideal addition to Toledo Jeep Assembly’s new plant.
Although Chrysler officials deemed the Gladiator wouldn’t be profitable in the near term, the automaker hasn’t scrapped the idea, Chrysler spokesman David Barnas said yesterday.
“You can never say ‘never’ forever,” he said. “For right now, we’re not doing it.”
The Gladiator concept made its debut last year at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Its production version was to have a body-on-frame construction like the Jeep Wrangler, the latest version of which began production in July at a $900 million multifactory plant off Stickney Avenue.
Consumers are turning to cars and car-based sport-utility vehicles instead of compact pickups, and that segment is likely where Chrysler wants to concentrate limited financial resources, said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research Inc. in Bandon, Ore.
“The market for that type of vehicle [compact pickup] is really small,” he said.
Mr. Spinella said the Detroit-made Jeep Commander has not sold well, and Chrysler is rethinking the Jeep brand, which is getting two car-based models built in Illinois this year. Still, he said he wishes Chrysler would produce the Gladiator.
Others agreed. Jeep dealers haven’t had a pickup since 1992, when the Toledo-made Comanche ended production, noted Jack Streit, assistant Jeep manager at Yark Automotive Group in Sylvania Township. The dealer is one of the largest nationwide for the Toledo-born brand.
“We are disappointed,” he said. “We did well with that pickup truck.”
Pickups were part of the Jeep lineup for nearly five decades, starting with the Willys in 1947. The original Gladiator was introduced as a 1963 model and was built from the same basic design as the Wagoneer.
A few years ago, Chrysler nixed a pickup version of the last Wrangler that was reminiscent of the Jeep Scrambler made from the mid-1970s to mid-1980s.
Bruce Baumhower, president of United Auto Workers Local 12, said the Gladiator was just one possibility for Toledo Jeep.
“We are constantly looking at additional work, and that’s been in our sights,” he said. “That and others have been in our sights for some time.”
Body-on-frame vehicles are easy to redesign, making the new Wrangler plant an ideal home for police, taxi, or other fleet vehicles too, said Mr. Spinella.
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