Interesting Story About The Last Days Of Kaiser Jeep Corp In This Article

The last paragraph adds more confusion to the AMC take over date. If I remember right from other things I've read, Henry Kaiser became the majority share holder of AMC after the transaction. So who took over who?

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2022/08/30/kaisers-last-gasp

 

Considering how profitable the Jeep division is now, it's kinda odd that Kaiser could not make a profit on civvy sales.

 

The slump in civilian Jeep sales seemed to coincide with the advent of the American muscle car.

 

Jeep had a lot more competition in the late sixties. The Toyota FJ, the Datsun copy of the FJ, Broncos, Scouts.

 

I may be wrong, but I think I heard that Jeep didn't really come into the mainstream (Read: soccer mom-mobile) until the 4-door wrangler came into existance.

 

The Cherokee was THE first popular SUV.

Was "car of the year" about three years running. Shame where that trend went...

 

Pretty much had NO competition before that. As I recall it.

 

I'd argue AMC and Chrysler really brought them into the mainstream. They made them liveable as everyday vehicles for most people, AMC started giving them semi modern powertrains with liveable interiors. The advent of the Unlimited Wranglers further expanded their market segment and with good advertising and appealing to a wide range of people from the soccer mom to the patriotic to the outdoorsy type they really made it blow up. The 4 door Wrangler probably saved the Jeep line on its own. Just like the XJs of the 80s-90-00s they outsell the 2 doors by a wide margin and got Jeep into a whole segment of people who never considered a Wrangler a useable family mobile.