Thanks. I didn't like it until I saw one in person. Looking at the Jeep site the last couple of months the only color I liked was Tank. Then driving home one day I saw a Copper Brown Sport getting off an exit. I didn't see it close up but it looked nice. That weekend I went to the dealer when they were closed and found one on the back lot. At that point I knew if I was going to get a 2015 it would be Copper Brown.

Here is a pic from when I picked it up on Saturday. I am temporarily going to throw on a Teraflex 2.5 BB and 315 Duratracs this weekend until I decide how I want to mod it long term.

 

Congrats; that is a really nice color.

 

We have brothers!!!!

 

What kind of top is that?

 

From different mothers. Looks nice. Mine has to grow up yet though.

 

I can add a bit of insight as I have 20 years of automotive OEM and Tier 1 experience. There are many different ways the OEM's handle changes, I'll explain the 3 most common. There are MY (model year) changes which are typically minor, this would include things like new interior and exterior colors. Then there are "facelifts" which are typically done on longer running programs, your pickup trucks typically do these 4-5 years into an 8-10 year production run. This would include new sheetmetal hung on the existing chassis and body structure. The reason for this is the cost to design, validate and retool a new body or chassis is crazy. Finally, there is the "platform change", in the case of our Jeeps, would be the change from JK to JL. This would include new chassis, body, powertrain...the works.

MY changes are typically planned around the 4th of July shutdown. Depending how a model is selling, most assembly plants shut down for 1-2 weeks in early July. While the plant is down, all the preventative maintenance is performed on the assembly line itself as well as preparation for the new changes that will be introduced.

Facelifts and platform changes, since they are more drastic in scale, take longer to prep for. As an example, when Ford launched the new F150 recently, Dearborn Assembly here in Michigan was closed for months to retool the body shop for the new aluminum body. All new welders, robots, fixturing, etc. Since these changes take so long to implement, there is no "typical timing" when a plant will start the changeover, it is specific to how major the changes are. What I will say is that most OEM's still target the introduction of the new models for release in the Fall of every year. It is no coincidence that is usually a good time to buy an older model as dealers are looking to clear inventory. But, the ramp up for that Fall release usually still starts after the July 4 holiday. The OEM will slowly start building and ramp up to full production speed over a period of a couple of months. They will park the vehicles at the assembly plant (they all have huge holding yards) because early models ALWAYS need rework. Remember the Cherokee launch? The 8 speed auto transmission wouldn't shift correctly. They had to keep building Cherokees but parked the cars and reflashed the PCM's offline. They were then finally released to dealers.

As far as the pipeline, there is typically a 12 week pipeline between a supplier and customer. This doesn't mean there are 12 weeks of parts sitting around, that is bad for the balance sheet, but that we have a 12 week forecast of what will be built. That way the raw material pipeline is flowing. Most suppliers only keep 1-3 days of inventory on hand, depending on the commodity.

Hope this gives you a bit of insight!

 

It's a Wild Boar Products slant back t-top.

 

Like I've said before, nobody will know until they've hit the lots. But...


http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/...n-on-aluminum/