Photoshops courtesy of Brendan Saur
Would anyone have purchased a Dodge Wrangler? How about an Eagle Grand Caravan or, horror of horrors, a Jeep Grand Caravan? When Chrysler purchased American Motors Corporation in 1987, such possibilities were floated by dealers and were just as quickly shot down by the very same stakeholders.
Patrick Foster briefly discusses these intriguing proposals in his detailed historical book, “The Story of Jeep”. Dodge dealers were excited at the idea of getting a rebadged Jeep Wrangler to replace the slow-selling Raider, a rebadged Mitsubishi Montero. They were positively salivating at the notion of getting their hands on the hot-selling XJ Cherokee.
Chrysler was more than happy to spread the Jeep love over to its other brands. After all, a vehicle produced in a company-owned factory would be more profitable than a captive import.
Designers would have commenced work on mildly restyled Jeeps were it not for one strident objection of the Dodge dealer group. Sharing may be caring, but Dodge dealers were vocally opposed. “Hands off our minivan!” they cried.
See, if Dodge was to get a Dodge Cherokee and a Dodge Wrangler, Chrysler saw fit to give the new Jeep-Eagle dealerships a minivan to sell. This new minivan apparently would have worn the Commando nameplate and came with all-wheel-drive. Whether it would be a Jeep or an Eagle was something that was actually discussed. Allegedly, this pondering took more than 30 seconds, and somebody somewhere in Chrysler headquarters thought, however briefly, that a minivan would be a logical extension of the Jeep brand.
Of course, Dodge dealer objections shut this thought process down and these rebadgings never came to pass. Next time you see a Jeep Compass and think that was an ill-advised extension of FCA’s SUV brand, remember that someone in Auburn Hills once thought a Dodge Caravan could be a suitable Jeep…
I like the Jeep Cherokee grille and headlight bezels on the Caravan (or whatever MoPar minivan it is). Brendan, just for grins, can you put a Dakota ‘face’ on a Jeep Comanche for me?
Until last month I had a 1992 Jeep Comanche (LWB 2-WD). A neighbor has a Dodge Dakota of similar vintage. It’s remarkable how similar they are in exterior appearance. And, no, the taillight assemblies do not interchange between the two.
The first-gen Durango actually used Caravan taillights
That’s something I always thought was weird.
A sporty, minivan with AWD as an Eagle isn’t the worst idea I’ve heard. And the Dakota nose on the Cherokee looks pretty good.
Well it certainly doesn’t look any worse than the current Cherokee CUV
Dodge was so used to getting a version of every car the Corporation made, it is little wonder that they expected to get a Jeep derivative too. It would have been priceless to see the looks on their faces when told that they might have to share the minivan.
Instead of Dodge Cherokee, didn’t Dodge came out with the Durango albeit around 1998? “Better late than never as it was often said” In addition, why didn’t the Chrysler Corporation instead imported the Mexican Built Dodge Ramcharger to replace the Raider? It wasn’t much larger than the Durango anyway.
Per Wiki….
“Bowing to local-market demands, a new Ramcharger was produced in Mexico for the 1999 model year based on the second generation Ram pickup and using parts from the Dodge Ram pickup and other Chrysler vehicles. It was now sold only in Mexico and South American nations where the previous generation Ramcharger had been quite successful.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Ramcharger
“And other Chrysler vehicles” included the minivan, which donated its liftgate to El Ramcharger.
If I remember correctly, the Mexican Ramcharger was RWD only, and the suspension wasn’t all that well sorted out so it bounced around a fair bit. Would’ve taken some reengineering to make it acceptable to the US market. Chrysler head office probably didn’t think it was worth it, seeing as how they had the Durango.
Also, if it had sold unexpectedly well, might it have dragged down their CAFE numbers?
Nice-looking rig though. Maybe we’ll see a few up this way 10 years from now.
There was a story that the first generation Dakota (1986+) was considered for a 4 door SUV in the early 1990s but it was nixed because of the recent acquistion of Jeep and its associated models.
Of course the Ford Explorer, introduced in 1991. would later prove that this would have been a great move versus the 1998 catch up attempt on the next generation Dakota platform.
Dodge eventually got their chance with the Dodge Nitro, which is based on the Jeep Liberty. Reviewers were not kind to it. Sales did not meet expectations, and apparently tanked after the Dodge Journey was introduced. With that in mind, I predict that a Dodge-branded Wrangler would’ve met the same fate.
A Jeep-branded minivan may have done better, particularly if AWD, kind of a modern-day AMC Eagle wagon interpretation. Chrysler dropped AWD from their minivans so they could make stow & go seating standard equipment. If they’d offered a Jeep version that had AWD instead, they could’ve continued to serve that market segment. Presumably Chrysler’s marketing dept. determined that AWD minivan buyers weren’t a big enough market to chase, so perhaps it wouldn’t have worked out so well after all.
At the time, headquarter in Auburn Hills was still under construction and it was partially operating, the rest half was still in Highland Park. I wonder if they had the ideas considered every time on the way between in the traffic jam of I-75 and Chrysler freeway.
For comparison purposes a 1998 Dodge Durango (on the left) and a Mexican built 1998 Dodge Ramcharger (on the right).
Awesome photoshops, Brendan.
Not only can he write, he can do graphics… Ever do side work as a web designer?
Back on topic… With all those Mexican and Brazilian Dodge and Chrysler products, that we haven’t seen yet…
Who knows, these can actually be around… Somewhere.
Like this Mexican 1981 Plymouth Volare/ Dodge Aspen formal coupe. Would live to own this beauty. 🙂
* love
The Mexican Plymouth Volare’ and Dodge Aspen twins with this redesigned bodies would still be considered the RWD M-Body models not the RWD F-Body as known here in the States. The coupe design had much of a stronger resemblance with the 1978-80 Ford Granada/Mercury Monarch 2 Door Coupes. See their fleeting resemblances?
Did that formal window come off the Diplomat?
Well if it was good enough for VW, why not Jeep?
Great work Brendan. I laughed out loud. Twisted my brain to find out it was actually considered. I’m a fan of Patrick Foster as well. Have his latest AMC history book on my wish list.
Wonder if there’s a secret “How To Whore A Brand” book floating around among the Big 3…
I seem to remember that when the Compass and Patriot were still hazy rumors one or two car magazines had “artist’s renderings” of what those two might look like. One of the pictures looked very much like what would become the Dodge Caliber but with a 7 slot grille. Sort of a modern day Jeepster with a non-removeable top.
I think it’s possible some of the vehicles proposed in this write-up could have worked if sufficient funds had been spent on REALLY differentiating them from their corporate “sisters”. The fact that they couldn’t decide who would get the minivan speaks volumes about how little thought was going into building the many brands Chrysler suddenly found itself with.
Good job on the photoshopping. The early European market Chrysler Voyager had a black grille with the sealed beam type headlights, which is very similar to the first photoshopped photo of the red Caravan. Add a repeater light on the fender and it would be completely Euro!
Speaking of other Plymouth would be cars, if it weren’t for the Eagle Vision Plymouth would have easily gotten the larger LH Platform Sedan as well and would be called the Plymouth Saratoga. Also the Chrysler Cordoba from 1975-79 would have been the Plymouth Sebring which would directly compete with the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Ford Torino Elite/Thunderbird from that era directly.
The Plymouth LH was going to be called Accolade according to most accounts, while the Plymouth version of the Cordoba was to be the Grand Era.
To think I once gave Chrysler a lot of credit for maintaining the integrity of the Jeep brand in the 90s. Of course I should have known how close they came to diluting it beyond recognition!
Jeep-Eagle dealers had an AWD mini-minivan – the Mitsubishi based Summit Wagon. A Jeep version Caravan sitting on the lot would’ve given all those up-scale, adventure loving Jeep-Eagle customers two different steps up the “Sloane-ian” ladder, Cherokee or Commando. Or not – Cherokee production capacity was already maxed out and diluting the minivan market even more probably wouldn’t bring much improvement to Chrysler’s bottom line.
That Jeep van looks scarily possible. I give them credit for *not* producing it though! Now an Eagle version? That could have made some sense. And a Dodge version of the XJ Cherokee could have also been a contender, though depending on what they did with the styling, it might or might not have worked.
Also, rather than killing the Comanche, how about moving it to the Dakota platform? It could have kept is Cherokee-derived front clip, perhaps with a nip/tuck to make it fit the different hardpoints.
Actually, in the early ’90s Chrysler looked into doing just that: one of their designers re-skinned a first generation Dodge Dakota as a Jeep Comanche. I’m having a tough time digging up the drawings, but I have seen them online.
“…Jeep Compass and think that was an ill-advised extension of FCA’s SUV brand…”
Fiat didn’t own Chrysler when this product was brought out. In fact it was Daimler that green-lit the FWD based Jeeps, about 10 years ago.
and April is so far away.
Well, whatever you think of the Chrysler ‘S’ body vans, they were the ones that started the whole show rolling. Lee Iacocca’s greatest accomplishment in the automotive world, in his own words.
Ive always wanted to hoax a Dodge Wrangler prototype using a YJ as the basis. With a modded Nitro grille, period Dakota 5spoke wheels, and rounded fender flares. ‘Dodge Brawler’ sounds good, right? Magnum 318 powered, of course! Photochop, anyone?
And a swb minivan using XJ underpinnings and the 3.9 V6 wouldve been a good idea. A Jeep-grilled awd van….not so much.
I LOVE these stories! And I’m so happy Chrysler didn’t go there… They were really doing things right back then! Jeep is their greatest asset, and adding a minivan, and giving the Wrangler to Dodge, would have only helped to dilute Jeeps valuable image.
Check Plymouth’s 1974-1981 Trail Duster. Nice real example of rebadging the Dodge Ram Charger… I’d rather own a SUV like this with the Plymouth nameplate…as well as a Grand Voyager… 🙂