Bob Broderdorf was named senior vice-president and head of Jeep Brand North America in September 2024.Stellantis/Courtesy of manufacturer
The new global chief executive officer of Jeep, promoted this week from head of Jeep North America, says the market is turning for the beleaguered brand – and it all starts with making Jeeps more affordable.
“We feel very good about the repositioning and the content changes to the cars,” says Bob Broderdorf, who took on the the North America job last October after more than 20 years of working for different brands under parent company Stellantis, FCA and Chrysler Motors Corp. “There’s been a massive overhaul.”
There had to be. After many years as the crown jewel of Stellantis, Jeep’s North American sales dropped by a third over the last six years as prices for its vehicles rose. In contrast, the Jeep Compass, the brand’s second-most popular and least costly model, has helped curtail the losses and increased its sales over the last seven quarters.
Sales for the Wrangler, Jeep’s iconic keystone and by far its best-seller, dropped 26 per cent in 2024 compared to the previous year. Sales for the brand’s 10 different models dropped 20 per cent on average. That meant it sold more than 10,000 fewer new vehicles in Canada in 2024 compared to previous year.
“We’ve seen [Jeep’s] prices tick up every model year,” says Daniel Ross, senior manager for industry insights with Canadian Black Book. “When you’re predominantly focused on one key vehicle (the Wrangler) that is basically the image of the brand and you’ve priced that up so significantly in a relatively short period of time – in a decade – you’ve basically priced yourself out of the market.”
After all, he adds, Jeep “is still a relatively mainstream brand at the end of the day.”
This resulted in a huge number of unsold Jeeps parked in long lines at dealerships while new Jeeps were still being churned out at assembly plants. Stellantis – criticized in recent years of cost-cutting and putting profits first – threatened to lay off one of the two daily shifts at its Jeep Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio, which would affect more than 1,000 workers. The plan was put on hold late last year after Stellantis chief operating officer Carlos Tavares resigned in December and the company announced a change in its priorities.
Last year, Jeep introduced incentives to reduce its stockpile and adjusted its prices to make its vehicles less expensive.
“When you have too many cars of not necessarily the right flavours at the right time, that hurts you,” Broderdorf says.
He notes that there were 215,000 unsold Jeeps at dealerships across North America at the beginning of 2024 and now there are closer to 140,000.
“If you know what your customers want, you listen to them,” he said. “But I think that during COVID, and chip shortages, and when cars just weren’t as available, you tend to lose your way sometimes with that. Some manufacturers reacted faster to the blocking and tackling than others. Am I doing okay, without saying I wasn’t a fan of the things before me?”
The all-important lists of features in the available packages also changed. Some items only sold as part of a fully loaded and expensive package are now included in lower-cost packages. For example, power locks and power windows are now standard on all Wranglers and power folding mirrors are now available across the Wagoneer range, not just for the Grand Wagoneer.
“In Canada, we’ve been very aggressive with the program,” Broderdorf says. “Every car in every trim is being approached a little differently. We lowered the price, we increased the value, changed the content packaging; in some cases, we bundled other things together with discounts.”
Will this be enough to turn the brand around?
“I need to see more of it,” says Ross of Canadian Black Book. “I think they’ve started on the right path, but I think they need to be consistent and move in this direction permanently. They need to price it appropriately at the start and not put a Band-Aid on it afterward. That’s not going to fix the problem.”
The brand has abandoned its plans to create a luxury sub-brand with Wagoneer, which has an official price just below $100,000 but currently offers a discount that brings the price down to $83,295. The most basic Wrangler begins at $48,515 and offers a discount that brings the price down to $42,895, before tax. There are a dozen different Wrangler trim levels, however, rising to about $70,000 after discounts for a loaded four-door Rubicon, and even a $122,000 Rubicon with a 6.4-litre Hemi V8 engine.
“More of their vehicles need to be fuel-efficient,” Ross says. He says the plug-in hybrids Jeep has brought to market have only increased prices and suggests hybrid technology could bring more value for customers.
This year, Jeep will introduce the all-electric Recon, a Wrangler lookalike with off-road capability and removable doors. It will also introduce an all-electric, two-row Wagoneer S as competition for the Tesla Model Y and redesign the affordable (and comparatively fuel-efficient) Compass.
“I’m a firm believer that a brand as big as Jeep doesn’t need to pick just one way to do things,” Broderdorf says. “We need to have a choice if we want to attack the market and, quite frankly, I would like to remain very flexible. I go where the fish are, and if people are buying, you’ll see us speed it up real quick.”
This year, Jeep will introduce the all-electric Recon, a Wrangler lookalike with off-road capability and removable doors.Stellantis/The Globe and Mail
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include new pricing for Jeep vehicles. The Wagoneer has an official price of just below $100,000 but a current discount brings the price down to $83,295. The most basic Wrangler begins at $48,515 and offers a discount that brings the price down to $42,895, before tax.