Because the small FWD/AWD Jeeps suck for anyone not looking for an off road Jeep. They suck gas compared to the competition. Their sales suck compared to the competition. This is perfectly fine if they are understood as niche off road biased alternatives to Dodge and Chrysler SUV that take on the mainstream. As implemented by Fiat as putting all their eggs in the Jeep basket it was a stupid act of brand mismanagement.
You must have missed my post #61. CR-V, RAV4, Rogue and Highlander and their Acura, Lexus and Infiniti platform mates are the reasons Dodge and Chrysler need SUVs.
Dodge needs to be the division competing with CR-V, RAV4, Rogue and Highlander at 102.4", 106.3", 110.2" and 114.2". The AWD hybrids can be the "international" Jeeps. These go on Peugeot EMP2 replacing Renegade, Compass, Cherokee and Commander/Grand Commander.
You also must have missed my recent post on the sales numbers page. I post it again below but bottom line up front SUVs are nearly half the market, cars and pickups are just under 1/4 of the market each.
Numbers by segment are out at GCBC.
Small cars 1,253,775.
Includes several small midsize models, specifically Civic 114 cu ft, Elantra 113 cu ft, Impreza 112 cu ft and Forte 111 cu ft.
Midsize cars 980,754** (1,089,605).
Kia K5 strangely missing from their list driving the number under 1 million, number with K5 1,089,605. Of course Accord, Sonata, K5 and Legacy are actually large.
Large cars 130,466.
The 112 cu ft Maxima and 119 cu ft Avalon are ignorantly placed in this category by the website. Maxima isn't even close to large, having slightly less interior room than Civic sedan.
Sports cars 264,475.
Sports car numbers are strangely inflated, counting A5, 2 series and Giulia as sports cars. 2 Gran Coupe and Giulia are as normal as small compact and small midsize sedans get (ignoring that Giulia is still RWD, a very small minority of midsize cars). A5 is the now rarely seen in the US midsize liftback sedan, that doesn't make it a sports car.
All cars 2,738,321
Small SUV 3,336,191
Midsize SUV 2,796,967
Large SUV 393,643
All SUVs 6,526,801
Pickups all sizes 2,842,479
It is clear that SUVs are now the most popular vehicle, it is also clear that most of them are just raised FWD/AWD compact and midsize station wagons and hatchbacks. At the smallest level they don't even raise them, they just throw CUV on them and count them as if they were SUVs (UX, C-HR, X2, Venue, Countryman, MX-30, Kicks, X1).
Cars remain about as popular as pickup trucks. Stellantis has its work cut out for it restoring Dodge and Chrysler to the mainstream segments (small and midsize cars and SUVs).
