Compass, Renegade, and Grand Cherokee Biggest Performers for Jeep Brand
It’s hard to believe 2016 is over, but it’s necessary. Hopefully, you can look back on it with fond memories and knowledge of how to make 2017 an even better year. The folks at Jeep reflected on their 2016, then broke out their calculators.
December was a down month for Jeep, thanks to the deep year-over-year sales declines of the Patriot and Cherokee. They contributed to Jeep selling six percent fewer vehicles in December than it did in December 2015. On the plus side (literally), December sales of the Grand Cherokee shot up by 13 percent to 23,250 vehicles. In fact, December was the best month of the year for the WK2. The Renegade was the most improved in terms of December year-over-year sales; its sales increased by a whopping 39 percent.
Full-year US sales for parent company FCA were flat for the year in comparison to the same figures for 2015, but Jeep was up six percent to 926,376 units. Nearly a quarter of those sales – 212,273 – can be chalked up to the Grand Cherokee, which was up eight percent for 2016. Dealers sold almost 200,000 Cherokees, but that wasn’t enough to keep Cherokee sales from sliding 10 percent. The Wrangler was down by five percent.
Although the smaller Jeeps might not be able to get as deep in the mud as the JK, they were deep in the black. More than 90,000 Compass SUVs rolled off of dealership lots – a 32-percent increase relative to 2015. Sales figures for the Patriot show a one-percent jump. The smallest Jeep of all, the Renegade, showed the biggest improvement. Its sales climbed by 75 percent from 60,864 units in 2015 to 106,606 units in 2016.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
