How the Grand Cherokee became a Jeep
How Iacocca staged 'gunfight at the OK Corral' after acquiring Jeep
June 19, 2016
AutoNews.com
The Last American CEO, a new book co-authored by ex-American Motors CEO Joe Cappy and former Ford and Chrysler public relations chief Jason Vines, describes Chrysler's acquisition of AMC from Renault in 1987 -- a momentous deal largely because then-Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca got his hands on Jeep.
In this passage from the book, Vines and Cappy recall development of the ZJ model, a unibody design that became the first Grand Cherokee. But once the Jeep brand was part of Chrysler, the big question was whether the new SUV should be a Jeep or a Dodge.
When Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca was asked why he wanted to buy American Motors he responded, "Jeep is the best known automotive brand name in the world" and, at the time, only the Coke brand had higher recognition than Jeep throughout the world.
After WWII, Kaiser Industries decided to enter the automotive business that was booming with consumers and returning servicemen starved for new vehicles. It looked like "easy pickings" to the successful shipbuilding industrialist Henry Kaiser, who teamed with an automotive executive, Joseph Frazer, to manufacture Kaiser-Frazer passenger cars until 1955 when the company subsequently found the capital requirements and the stiff competition too difficult to continue producing in the United States, it moved its operations to South America.
But, two years earlier in 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep line of utility vehicles for $60 million and changed its name to first, Willys Motors, and then ten years later to Kaiser-Jeep.
How Iacocca staged 'gunfight at the OK Corral' after acquiring Jeep
June 19, 2016
AutoNews.com
The Last American CEO, a new book co-authored by ex-American Motors CEO Joe Cappy and former Ford and Chrysler public relations chief Jason Vines, describes Chrysler's acquisition of AMC from Renault in 1987 -- a momentous deal largely because then-Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca got his hands on Jeep.
In this passage from the book, Vines and Cappy recall development of the ZJ model, a unibody design that became the first Grand Cherokee. But once the Jeep brand was part of Chrysler, the big question was whether the new SUV should be a Jeep or a Dodge.
When Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca was asked why he wanted to buy American Motors he responded, "Jeep is the best known automotive brand name in the world" and, at the time, only the Coke brand had higher recognition than Jeep throughout the world.
After WWII, Kaiser Industries decided to enter the automotive business that was booming with consumers and returning servicemen starved for new vehicles. It looked like "easy pickings" to the successful shipbuilding industrialist Henry Kaiser, who teamed with an automotive executive, Joseph Frazer, to manufacture Kaiser-Frazer passenger cars until 1955 when the company subsequently found the capital requirements and the stiff competition too difficult to continue producing in the United States, it moved its operations to South America.
But, two years earlier in 1953, Kaiser purchased Willys-Overland, manufacturer of the Jeep line of utility vehicles for $60 million and changed its name to first, Willys Motors, and then ten years later to Kaiser-Jeep.
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