I don’t see too many Jeeps in Korea so it will be interesting to see if their marketing strategy works:
FCA Korea president Pablo Rosso talks to The Korea Herald at his office in Seoul. (Chung Hee-cho/The Korea Herald)
The boxy and powerful Jeep sports utility vehicles have appealed to tough, adventure-seeking motorists with rather masculine exteriors for more than seven decades.
And despite the global trend for family-friendly and female-friendly SUVs, Jeep has no intention of changing its image, the U.S. carmaker’s Korea head told The Korea Herald.
“If I start selling Jeep as a family car, we would lose our personality, and believe me, we will lose sales,” Pablo Rosso, Korean market president at Fiat-Chrysler APAC, said in a recent interview.
“What people like about Jeep is that dream, that muscularity, that passion and authenticity of the dream of adventure. So that is the value that we stand for.”
And as a part of that authentic Jeep image, the company is highlighting its masculine and daring side with its newest compact SUV, the Renegade.
The boxier design creates a stark comparison to its predecessor Cherokee’s fluid and modern exterior, and is seen as a declaration from the carmaker of a retro direction.
Rosso thinks this masculine look appeals to women who defy norms and want powerful cars. [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link but since being offered for sale in September, the Jeep Renegade sold 300 vehicles that month.
The same ones who drive Equus, Chairman and Ssangyong through narrow Korean alleys.
Oh, and if you actually lived in Korea, rather than hiding out in Canada, you would know that Korea has embraced the wider road concept. People know they need to get around with more than an ox cart in modern, high-tech South Korea.
ChickenHead
9 years ago
“J.D. Power reliability ratings drop; Jeep among the worst, Lexus best”
Jeeps are pieces of shyt… typical city SUVs… glorified cars… with design and manufacturing shortcuts like exposed hinges that are supposed to indicate utility but are actually just a cheap way to attach a door. Maybe that makes up for the fact that it is just a car with a clunky grill and bigger tires.
The joke is on you, post-1970s Jeep buyer.
The new Jeep Renegade has all sorts of plastic trim that would fall the fukk off if one dared to take it anywhere rougher than a country road.
As a bonus, it has a boxy-yet-rounded chic-car design that screams “my other car is a Mini because I’m a biitch”.
No masculinity to be found anywhere near that ugly turd carved from a solid block of design mediocrity.
How can that be?
Ho, ho, ho…
“Subcompact SUV based on Fiat 500L”
Just for shyts and grins, look up a picture of a Fiat 500L. You will see that it is a crappy looking car… but at least it knows its place… basic transportation for a lower-middle class housewife would buy to carry bulk cat food. And you will see the same inbred DNA in both the Jeep and the Fiat 500L.
Once again, Jeep owners buy a Fiat subcompact at Jeep prices.
Maybe 49,999,700 Koreans didn’t buy a Jeep Renegade because they suspected they were being grifted… and they would have been.
I guess Jeep can try to sell the dream of muscularity, passion, authenticity, and adventure to ajushi so he can go do doughnuts in a rice paddy until the plastic trim falls off… or until he gets stuck in the mud with those little 17 inch tires… which is an inch smaller than a Hyundai Sonata.
Why would any Korean out of his mind, drive this huge chunk of metal around narrow back alleys of Seoul?
The same ones who drive Equus, Chairman and Ssangyong through narrow Korean alleys.
Oh, and if you actually lived in Korea, rather than hiding out in Canada, you would know that Korea has embraced the wider road concept. People know they need to get around with more than an ox cart in modern, high-tech South Korea.
“J.D. Power reliability ratings drop; Jeep among the worst, Lexus best”
Jeeps are pieces of shyt… typical city SUVs… glorified cars… with design and manufacturing shortcuts like exposed hinges that are supposed to indicate utility but are actually just a cheap way to attach a door. Maybe that makes up for the fact that it is just a car with a clunky grill and bigger tires.
The joke is on you, post-1970s Jeep buyer.
The new Jeep Renegade has all sorts of plastic trim that would fall the fukk off if one dared to take it anywhere rougher than a country road.
As a bonus, it has a boxy-yet-rounded chic-car design that screams “my other car is a Mini because I’m a biitch”.
No masculinity to be found anywhere near that ugly turd carved from a solid block of design mediocrity.
How can that be?
Ho, ho, ho…
“Subcompact SUV based on Fiat 500L”
Just for shyts and grins, look up a picture of a Fiat 500L. You will see that it is a crappy looking car… but at least it knows its place… basic transportation for a lower-middle class housewife would buy to carry bulk cat food. And you will see the same inbred DNA in both the Jeep and the Fiat 500L.
Once again, Jeep owners buy a Fiat subcompact at Jeep prices.
Maybe 49,999,700 Koreans didn’t buy a Jeep Renegade because they suspected they were being grifted… and they would have been.
I guess Jeep can try to sell the dream of muscularity, passion, authenticity, and adventure to ajushi so he can go do doughnuts in a rice paddy until the plastic trim falls off… or until he gets stuck in the mud with those little 17 inch tires… which is an inch smaller than a Hyundai Sonata.
Be gone, Jeep.
Good luck, Jeep.