[yilugurlu]

I am genuinely curious, why Jeep/Chrysler makes the worst decisions in the car industry over and over again. Is this incompetency or this is really how they run their business?

I don't know how many years I have known these brands, but they are constantly in the news regarding bankruptcy. I am aware of the history with Mercedes, followed by Fiat, and now with PSA; it feels as though they are the lab rats for all of these foolish decisions and everything that has gone wrong.

I guess I'd hammer my infotainment screen if I'd seen such an ad.

[lnenad]

I think in this particular scenario it's shortsightedness. They see this an instant increase in revenue without considering that longer term this will destroy their ever dwindling market share.

[pmontra]

Many C*Os plunder the companies they work for, then move to another one. They don't care about the market share of the company they'll leave, no more than bugs care about a tree they are eating. They'll move to the next one. There is always a next tree, until suddenly there are no more trees nearby.

[superfist]

Because no one rewards long-term efforts. You are rewarded for short-term goals and, at best, mid-term ones. In an abstract sense, customers reward you for long-term efforts, but this is something no one will put in an Excel spreadsheet with financial voodoo calculations, except when you are the sole owner of the business.

[KingOfCoders]

Sales managers and CEOs make sales, get their options then move on.

[mdp2021]

> longer term this will destroy their ever dwindling market share

I'd very much hope so, but I am seeing humanity adapt to and support much worse terms and conditions, under the banner of "Meh.".

[bboygravity]

I have no idea if this is the case here, but one possibility is deliberate coorporate sabotage. Like planting "bad people" on the board or in key positions.

Either by competition or by hedge funds that want to short it into the ground ("cellar boxing").

Just incompetency is another option of course.

[tekknik]

The fact of the matter is there’s no replacement for a jeep. Not the grand cherokees and other “fake” jeeps but the gladiator and wrangler have no competition in the segment they’re built for. they can get away with a lot for that reason alone.

[nunodonato]

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

[SpaceL10n]

Jeep was bought by Stellantis, so I'm giving Jeep the benefit of the doubt. I imagine this terrible, horrible, no good idea, was their idea. The people with the money rarely come up with the good ideas.

[bayindirh]

Stellantis is working as a corporations of corporations AFAIK, and they’re free up to a certain degree. However, they have profit targets, and if you fail you’re closed down, again IIRC.

So, tracing that decision is a bit harder than it looks.

[danpalmer]

I don’t know enough about cars or the Jeep brand, but a common answer to this in the general case is market segmentation. If a company constantly makes decisions that make their product worse for you, you’re probably not the target market.

Perhaps in this case it means Jeep can sell their cars at a lower price. Perhaps Jeep is already perceived as a budget conscious brand. The market segment they’re targeting may care about that.

Kindle does this with their ads. They are targeting a consumer with ~$50 of disposable income to spend on an ebook reader, who would rather pay that little and have ads. I’ll never buy a Kindle because not only do I not want ads on the screen, but they have also neglected their high end device which is the segment of the market where I’m at.

[hnthrow90348765]

Not to be too harsh, but most Jeep buyers only buy for the name. That's the only way to justify these Wrangler prices.

It's why Ford was able to bring back the Bronco and take a decent chunk of that pie.

[Aeolun]

The moment my Remarkable shows me ads is the moment I burn the company to the ground (reputationally).

[mr_toad]

> Perhaps Jeep is already perceived as a budget conscious brand.

I’d always thought of Jeep as an overpriced brand. There are cheaper off road vehicles available if you don’t care about the brand.

[chneu]

Jeep customers fall into 2 categories, generally.

Folks who want a bare bones 4x4 rig

And

People who want a grocery SUV that they can take down a gravel road to a trailhead a few times a year and put ducks on the dash.

Jeep is definitely targeting the latter group here.

[Pinegulf]

Pure speculation: Maybe this is an attempt of 'outrage marketing'?

[csomar]

It is a car. Most people will spend a good chunk of time and research before they buy a car including researching things like maintenance cost, reliability and resale value.

[bloomingkales]

Every company I've ever been at I've always worked side by side with people from good universities/pedigree. You'd be shocked at how stupid some people are. In fact, it caused a lot of imposter syndrome in me, like ... how did they make it that far? Are they a fraud? Am I? What is happening here.

I've lost respect for entire institutions, no joke. You literally will not believe some of the people they created.