Filed under: SUVs, Dodge, Jeep
Dodge Nitro and Jeep Liberty to merge into one vehicle
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]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
MajorGeek 1:35PM (9/05/2008)
Tough call, although I would buy neither I almost lean towards the Nitro, Jeep already has 3 or 4 identical vehicles (Commander, Patriot, Liberty) and the Nitro is a bit different.
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pmalloy4391 1:47PM (9/05/2008)
The commander is gone, the patriot is the smaller vehicle, its pretty much the size of the cherokee and the liberty is placed above the grand cherokee (size, not luxury)
I would have jeep as this
wrangler
patriot
grand cherokee
liberty
ex the caliber and give the compass to dodge (it looks great, but its NOT a jeep)
Parkerman 1:50PM (9/05/2008)
^ You think the Compass looks great?! It and the Sebring are the 2 ugliest products that Chrysler LLC makes.
pmalloy4391 4:41PM (9/05/2008)
ok maybe it doesnt look great but its not a bad car for its intended purpose, and between it and the caliber, it looks great
Miguel 2:07PM (9/05/2008)
@pmalloy--
When did the Liberty get bigger than the GC? Your Jeep lineup is, uh, wrong.
Jeep:
Wrangler
Liberty
Patriot
Wrangler Unlimited
Grand Cherokee
Kill the Compass, especially if you're keeping the Patriot, Dodge keeps the Caliber. Kill the Nitro, Jeep keeps the Liberty. This makes WAY more sense.
SimbaDogg 4:28PM (9/05/2008)
shiet...i wouldn't buy any, then again...i've always though the big 3 especially chrysler and GM were dumb for offering the same exact damn cars/trucks under 3 different names. i could understand the difference between say, a camry and a es...or previous accord and tl, but to market a yukon vs a tahoe, or liberty vs nitro, or any number of the ford/mercury examples to me is simply retarded.
I'm glad they're finally getting enough sense to differentiate their brands, having the same soup with different spoons is simply stupid.
TJ 5:38PM (9/05/2008)
My jeep lineup:
Wrangler - 2 door, 4 door, and Dakar-style fixed roof.
Scrambler/J8/JT/Gladiator
Cherokee (yes, axe the libby and use the same badging worldwide)
Grand Cherokee
Wagoneer (based on Ram 1500)
I guess the Patriot can hang around for a while too, to boost EPA.
Offer the 2.4 in every vehicle. Add the phoenix to every vehicle. Add the dual mode as an option to every phoenix and V8.
Torrent 1:38PM (9/05/2008)
How about canceling them and making nicer cars like the Firepower, Nassau and Renegade?
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TheRedMonkey 1:41PM (9/05/2008)
If I were running the show, I know I would make it worse, I would make Jeep the SUV brand. Dodge would keep the Durango only along with the lx cars and the small everyday drivers and Chrysler would be the premium brand with the 300 but drop the Aspen and an updated and up scaled Sebring.
Only Ford/ Lincoln are worse in their interbrand competition.
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Andrew 6:27PM (9/05/2008)
looks like I am in the minority but I think having both a Jeep and a Dodge version of this platform is a good thing. Less expensive than developing to independent vehicles for each brand and diffrent enough to attract diffrent customers.
Most customers have no idea that they are the same car. If anything they will go buy the Nitro only to discover its no longer sold and then they will go for a Scion XB or something totally diffrent than a Jeep.
I just figure that having the same platform with diffrent badges can only increase the chances of someone buying your vehicle.
just my 2cents
BoneHeadOtto 1:43PM (9/05/2008)
i thought they were already the same platform. Surely a domestic car producer isnt dumb enough to keep reinventing the wheel and make two identical cars on differenct platforms? But hey if they make dumb decisions atleast they will use our tax dollars to bail them out. yay "capitalism"
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2007RC46SP2 1:47PM (9/05/2008)
Project Genocide!
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TriShield 1:51PM (9/05/2008)
Drop the Nitro obviously, though I like the styling there's no reason it should exist.
The Liberty also needs to be renamed back to Cherokee. It's a brand name with lots of image and heritage Chrysler had that should have never been dropped in the first place. Especially now that the Liberty has adopted styling that looks more like a classic Cherokee than the round and smiley Liberty when it debuted.
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ehisforadam 1:58PM (9/05/2008)
Agreed.
blackEldo 2:41PM (9/05/2008)
It is called the Cherokee outside NA. "Liberty" only plays well in the US. I do agree, though, the Cherokee name has cache and is also logical as the car slotting below the Grand.
Alex Nunez 2:05PM (9/05/2008)
Don't forget that outside the U.S., it still IS the Cherokee. The transformation from Liberty to Cherokee would not be a big deal:
http://www.jeep.co.uk/cherokee/
Miguel 2:10PM (9/05/2008)
Which is funny, because I liked the round, smiley Liberty more than the Cherokee styling. It was a cute 'ute, but it seemed to spring from the Wrangler and classic Jeeps with round headlights and all. I still don't know why they made the shift.
All that discrepancy just gives me three words for Jeep: "cohesive design language."
AntBee 6:40PM (9/05/2008)
Um, Canada is outside of the USA, and it is called the Liberty up here as well. Jeesh!
jgp 7:11PM (9/05/2008)
There's a pretty good compromise to that.
Slap a Jeep grill on the Nitro and rename it the Jeep Cherokee. This way, you have both the better styling and the more iconic name.
MemphisNET 1:58PM (9/05/2008)
The reason it takes several years is because they want to make as much money as they can to pay back some of the tooling costs.
This makes sense. Keep the RAM, keep the Durango - but the Nitro needs to go. Dak. needs to become a small truck, or go away all together.
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