Long wheelbase Jeep Grand Cherokee to replace Commander?

When the existing Jeep Commander goes out of production at the end of the decade, it will mark the end for the short-lived nameplate. That's because Chrysler has no plans to build a second-generation Commander.

Introduced at the New York auto show in 2005, the Commander will only go for one life cycle and cease production sometime around 2010. Slow sales and company reorganization — along with weak fuel economy and poor reviews — have doomed Jeep's seven-passenger 'ute.

However, Jeep will not let the seven-passenger market slip away. Once the Commander dies it will, in essence, be replaced by a long-wheelbase version of the next-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee. Further, the next-gen Grand Cherokee is set to be built on a chassis shared with Mercedes-Benz.

Sources indicated this is still the plan even after the separation of Daimler and Chrysler. Obviously Chrysler's new management wants to save wherever possible — sharing the cost of chassis development (which is hugely expensive) is a great way to do that. That said, it would be wise to keep in mind that Chrysler is still in the midst of a turn around and anything is possible.

Jeep sold 88,000 Commanders in 2006 thanks to heavy discounts, averaging between $6,000 and $8,000. Analysts suspect the Commander mostly cannibalized sales of the slightly smaller Grand Cherokee, rather than bringing in new customers. The company sold 139,000 Grand Cherokees last year, down 75,000 from the previous year.

Ford Taurus selling slow...

The new Ford Taurus (old 500) isn't selling too well. Ford was hoping to sell around 20,000 units each month.

The Taurus is the safest mid-sized sedan sold in the U.S at the moment.

September sales for the Taurus and the 500:

3,562 Tauruses were sold in September 2007 while 6,054 Five Hundreds was sold in the same month in 2006

Ford Europes sets new September sales record

September sales increased by 3.1 per cent to a record for the month of 179,200
Sales for the first nine months of the year increased by 70,300, to 1,384,500

Across its main 21 European markets, Ford sold a record 179,200 vehicles, a 3.1 per cent increase over September 2006. Market share improved to 9.8 per cent.
For the first nine months of the year, the company's sales increased by 5.4 per cent, to 1,384,500.

The Focus and Fiesta were Ford's top car models, selling 45,400 and 40,300 units respectively, while new Mondeo sold 18,350 units, its highest volume yet. Transit and Transit Connect dominated the company's commercial vehicle sales. Sales of the new Transit soared 5,300 units, to 21,200, with the Transit Connect improving by 700 units to 8,900 units.

Britain was the Ford's top market, selling 70,800 vehicles. Share in that country was a market leading 15 per cent. Elsewhere, Ford increased its sales in most of its main 21 markets, with particularly strong performances in Russia (+3,200) and in Italy (+1,265). Turkey achieved the company's highest market share, 17.8 per cent, with sales of 7,360.

"We enter the final months of the year in a strong position and we are optimistic that 2007 as a whole will be a year of significant sales progress for us," said Stephen Odell, Vice President, Marketing, Sales & Service, Ford of Europe.

Ford's sales data includes both passenger cars and commercial vehicles from its 21 major European Sales Companies, including Russia and Turkey. Market share excludes Russia.