The upcoming five years were supposed to be a good time with Fiat Chrysler and their carefully laid out plan. However, from the looks of it, things are not going as smoothly as they hoped it would. Recently, Reuters reported that Fiat Chrysler will be delaying at least 12 of their vehicles and it is rumored that the 2017 Jeep Wrangler will be among them.
Reports suggest that the delay is primarily due to some design and engineering changes that will supposedly need additional cost. It is also believed that FCA might decide to partner up with another company in order to produce these models.
A few of the models have been delayed and the latest Jeep Wrangler which was supposed to head into production early this year will suffer from the delay. Some of the other models that have been pushed back include the Jeep Patriot, Jeep Compass, RAM 1500, Dodge Dart, and Dodge Journey along with a few more.
Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne reported to Automotive News that the next generation 2017 Jeep Wrangler won’t get the aluminum body as planned before.
Earlier, it was reported that in order to reduce fuel consumption and also save weight, the 2017 Jeep Wrangler would be getting an aluminum body. Now, it’s been reported that it will most likely get the aluminum bonnet, doors and tailgate only.
Marchionne told Automotive news that a large portion of the vehicle will be made of aluminum but not all of it. They have run numbers and also simulated the mileage as well as impact. There will be a difference in cost and the makers think they can do well without using aluminum all over, especially considering the actual assembly process.
According to Marchionne, he thinks they can get really close. In the meantime, the Jeep Wrangler is produced at the Jeep’s Toledo Factory in Ohio.Production of the next generation Wrangler out of aluminum would have needed an extensive re-fit or moving the complete production process to another alternative facility. However, when you are simply adding aluminum components to a steel body, it requires no additional re-fitting.
Production of the next generation Wrangler out of aluminum would have needed an extensive re-fit or moving the complete production process to another alternative facility. However, when you are simply adding aluminum components to a steel body, it requires no additional re-fitting.
Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler Automotive CEO, Sergio Marchionne keeps asking for industry consolidation and now FCA has what can be named as a ‘delay plan’. Recently, the company’s suppliers opened up on this issue and they explained why Fiat Chrysler has delayed a dozen mid-cycle revamps or all latest models over the past year.
Discussions suggest that from the delayed models like the Fiat 500 facelift and considering the FCA at a completely different scale, like Ferraris, remain untouched by such issues and are on a development roll. On the whole, let’s discuss the 2017 Jeep Wrangler.