• Jeep admits to overpricing mistakes and says things will change.
2024 was not the best of years for Jeep in terms of sales. As we recently reported, the brand recorded its sixth consecutive year of decline in the U.S.
One of the reasons, the company now acknowledges, is that the prices of its vehicles have been rising steadily over the past several years. At some point, there's a limit to what consumers are willing and/or able to accept.
At the Detroit Auto Show, Jeep's head of North America acknowledged it had committed the sin of overpricing some of its models. In an interview with Motor1 website, Bob Broderdorf said, among other things, that with the Wagoneer, the company had gone “too far.”
The least expensive Wagoneer is priced at $64,945 USD in its home market. In Canada, the base version is currently priced at $88,659, including a rebate of almost $10,000. The cost of the Grand Wagoneer is over $90,000 USD south of the border, and $116,637 CAD north of it. And that includes a rebate of $12,651 (as per the Jeep Canada website, which refers to 2024 models).
That kind of pricing is frankly out of touch. And no one should be surprised Wagoneers are a rare sight on the road.
Broderdord said there is a fine line between a fair offer and one that goes too far. “Creating demand in the market, you want one less car than the market wants. Not 1,000 less, or 1,000 more, so there's subtlety there. And some of the strategies just went too far.”
One example was bundling the options consumers wanted into expensive packages. Jeep isn’t the only company to do this, but the approach has not worked for it.
It’s an approach that a company like Porsche can afford to take, but this is Jeep we’re talking about. The brand may want to play in the high-end sphere, but that's not necessarily where its customers are.
Broderdord said Jeep is going to back away from certain approaches; more of the popular options, for example, will be available without having to pay for packages comprising unwanted options.
The challenge remains, however. Prices for the brand's products are still very high. It's going to take more than better-targeted, cheaper options packages to get Jeep out of the hole it finds itself in. It's going to take more accessible pricing.