Article source for : Over 2,200 workers to be laid off at Toledo Jeep
Who cares? Downtown Toledo is getting a new arena, so all is well.
Toledo Blade stories :
* June 24, 2008 - "Summer shutdowns scheduled at Jeep":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080624/BUSINESS02/516936985
* June 26, 2008 - "Toledo Jeep workers to be laid off for 7 weeks":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080626/BUSINESS02/279819220
* June 27, 2008 - "Over 2,200 workers to be laid off at Toledo Jeep; dismal sales of Liberty, Nitro blamed for move":http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080627/BUSINESS02/806270347
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Through May [2008], Liberty sales are down 14 percent from last year, Wrangler sales were off 27 percent, and Nitro sales had fallen 32 percent. Customers have switched to more fuel-efficient cars, further hurting sales of sport utility vehicles that have worse gas mileage. The three Toledo vehicles are rated at less than 20 miles to the gallon.
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The news story says the blame for the temporary Toledo Jeep layoffs goes to dismal sales of Liberty and Nitro. That's the shallow view of the issue. The blame actually goes to Jeep management and engineers for not designing a Jeep vehicle that is the Prius of "crossover":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossover_SUV vehicles.
Why doesn't Toledo Jeep produce one gas-electric hybrid vehicle that averages 30 to 40 mpg? Sales for the Liberty and Nitro would still be bad, but at least one fuel efficient vehicle +could+ reduce the number of layoffs or reduce the length of time of the layoffs. I bet Toledo Jeep workers wished they were assembling a more fuel efficient vehicle.
The "Jeep Compass":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep_Compass crossover is assembled in Illinois. _"As of March 2008, the Compass was the second-worst selling Jeep model, trailed only by the Jeep Commander."_
July 2006 blog posting titled "All-new 2007 Jeep® Compass Launch - Official Press Release":http://jeep-compass.blogspot.com/2006/07/all-new-2007-jeep-compass-launch_22.html
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Compass is the first Jeep vehicle to offer 30 miles per gallon on the highway — fuel-economy numbers not often found on an SUV.
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And I believe the Compass is an all-gas-powered vehicle. A hybrid would produce better overall mileage, and +maybe+ that would lead to better sales than the Compass.
br. News in a September 2007 Toledo Talk "posting":http://toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/tt.pl/article/4742/Cartys_interesting_view_on_energy :
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Chrysler's celebrating production of the all-new 2008 Jeep Liberty. A big event is in the works at the Toledo north assembly plant today. Chrysler executives, along with Mayor Carty Finkbeiner and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur will talk about the new vehicle.
Pricing starts at under Twenty-one thousand dollars for the Liberty Sport 4×2 version, and under twenty-three thousand for the 4×4. The Liberty Limited starts at just over $25,000, and just under $27,000 for the 4×4.
The *EPA mileage numbers may discourage some buyers* with the Liberty hitting 16 miles per gallon in the city and 22 mpg on the highway. There has been no decision to add a diesel engine to the Liberty, which the first generation offered to much fanfare. However, no one at Jeep would dismiss the idea either; it just won't put a time frame on it.
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2008 Jeep Liberty Mileage :
* 2WD (manual and automatic): 16 mpg city / 22 mpg highway
* 4WD (manual): 16/22
* 4WD (automatic) 15/21
Why doesn't Jeep produce a hybrid Liberty?
Some kind of news story from, I think, 2006. Maybe it's fiction. "DaimlerChrysler Demonstrates Hybrid Technology In Popular Jeep® Liberty SUV":http://www.rockcrawler.com/features/newsshorts/01december/jeep_hybridkj.asp :
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DaimlerChrysler today showed a hybrid electric version of its popular sport-utility vehicle, the Jeep® Liberty, demonstrating the adaptability of the company's patented Through-the-Road (TTR) hybrid system.
The Liberty HEV achieves a 30 percent improvement in fuel efficiency compared with a conventional six-cylinder Liberty, without sacrificing the vehicle's utility, comfort or performance.
"The Liberty HEV demonstrates how our TTR hybrid system can be adapted to many different types of vehicles," said Larry Oswald, Vice President and head of DaimlerChrysler's Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Product team. "The TTR can be installed in vehicles of different styles and sizes, with front- or rear-wheel drive," Oswald said. "This gives us great flexibility as we continue to explore new applications for environmentally-friendly hybrid technology."
Fuel efficiency is further enhanced by regenerative braking in which energy normally lost as heat during deceleration and braking is captured to recharge the battery.
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br. August 10, 2006 "comment":http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f43/jeep-hybrid-9183/ in the GreenHybrid message board :
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I actually wrote to Jeep a while back about whether they had any plans for a hybrid Liberty. My wife & I love the LIberty and would love to have one. It fits our lifestlye perfectly and we've both had great experience with Jeeps. In fact, I just sold my '96 Cherokee with 98k miles on it and it was still running great. *Jeep's response to me was they had no plans to introduce a hybrid vehicle.*
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January 16, 2008 comment in that same thread :
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The hybrid Jeep is a concept vehicle on display at the Detroit Auto Show. The Chevy Volt is also a concept vehicle, full of hope and promise.
But like I always say, *try driving a +promise+ to work.*
Car companies have been playing the "concept" game for decades. Back in the 1960s, they claimed that we'd all have flying cars by now. I'm still waiting.
I'm also still waiting for ANY car from the Big 3 that matches the price, features, and mpg of my Civic Hybrid.
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br. Toledo Talk postings :
* February 24, 2003 - "Investigation into gas price hikes":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/12/106 - Hah! Over five years ago, Congress looked into the rising price of gasoline. What was the price then? $1.60 to $1.80 a gallon?
* May 31, 2005 - "Get yer $1.89 gas while you still can today":http://www.toledotalk.com/cgi-bin/comments.pl/16/1136 - We were going bonkers over $2.00 a gallon gasoline
Locally, the gasoline price has ranged from $3.80 to $4.10 for at least six weeks.
Jeep has had a few years to tackle the consumer's concern over rising gasoline prices. Actually, American automakers have had 30 years to address the problem of fuel efficiency. American automakers are getting hurt now by their own arrogance.
tag=moronism
