RLSH700

Precisely, their problem is they began to recreate the problem that GM and Ford made for themselves only they made a worse mistake than either Ford or GM. They dropped their economy car in the middle of an era of high fuel prices. They not only loose a lot of sales, make it more difficult to make the 2020 CAFE standards due to this, and depend on a dying segment for success, but they also loose their grasp on the youth market. The Neon was failing due to the reliability issues they encountered with the 1st Generation models, although it appears they resolved these problems for the most part for the second generation, the damage was already done. Also the fuel efficiency was no longer equal to that of the Civic and Corolla. The engine's had not received a real update when they switched to the 2nd Generation which helped to make the second generation more dull. By the time the SRT-4 model came out, the Neon had already been associated with dull for too long. The SRT-4 would have been more effective if they would have offered it to kick off the 2nd Generation model. Doing it towards the end of the run proved why the magazine editors mentioned how SRT-4 was emphasized and Neon was not on that model. Perhaps being able to match the Evo for a lower price would have helped the image more, but still it was no slouch.

The Caliber, Compass, and Patriot are aimed at the youth, but the problem is more than just the fuel mileage. Some people just don't like wagons plain and simple. Beyond the looks, it takes a lot of power to get those models to move because they are so darn heavy (the CVTs can't be helping either for that matter). The Patriot isn't a bad idea for a vehicle in my eyes, its just the wrong idea for Jeep. If Eagle was still in production, it would be an excellent vehicle for them but it is not a Jeep in my eyes. As far as the Compass is concerned, I put that in the same category as the Aztek (ugly, impactical, pointless). Although I do not like the Caliber personally it does have its purpose. They just need to drop the CVTs and replace them with six speed units, and offer the SRT-4 already. They should also consider a medium choice turbo for something between the NA 2.4L and turbo 2.4L.

In a nutshell, a compact economy car should be made to compete against not only the Civic and Corolla in terms of fuel economy, but they should also offer models that could give the Evo a budget competitor. Also to gain the attention of the youth, they should make the Demon concept. They need to regain the youth market and that is their weakness because too many of their models are too expensive, too impractical, and too dull for the youth market.