Jeep is looking to return to the US after years of sales problems

AUBURN HILLS, MI – Jeep is betting that Americans still love a good comeback story.

It’s a slogan that resonates across the quintessential SUV brand — from its CEO to the marketing campaign with LL Cool J — after years of declining sales and market shares took a toll on Jeep and its parent company. Stellantis.

“This is not just a comeback. This is the Jeep brand taking back a segment that we invented and defined,” Jeep CEO Bob Bruderdorf said during a recent media event.

Jeep has been in trouble this decade, despite the brand’s well-known off-road capabilities that have carried it throughout most of the last century. It has seen six straight years of declining sales in the United States amid a downward spiral, a dearth of new products and a failed premium pricing strategy to boost profits.

But now, the coveted SUV brand has realigned pricing across its range, posted its best quarterly sales gain in more than two years, and is in the midst of the biggest mainstream product blitz of the decade.

“We’re going to grow and grow and grow,” Bruderdorf told CNBC as he sat in a redesigned 2026 Jeep Grand Wagoneer at the company’s design dome in suburban Detroit. “That’s the job. And do it in a healthy way.”

The redesigned Grand Wagoneer is a symbol of the brand’s problems and attempt at a comeback. It was Jeep’s foray into luxury — which tops out at $111,000 fully loaded in 2021 — that was relatively expensive, overly complex compared to its peers, and faced numerous production and quality issues.

The redesigned model range is less expensive, simpler and better positioned than other large American SUVs rather than foreign rivals such as Land Rover. Its production problems also eased.

“We have confused our buyers. We have confused our dealers,” Bruderdorf said at the media event. “I’m here to tell you that we got the message. We’re working to fix it.”

But some things take longer than others to fix in the automotive world. The brand’s sales remain well below expectations, and Jeep’s overall quality issues remain a work in progress after realigning its vehicles and pricing strategy.

“This is one area that needs improvement. We’ve been improving, but the evidence is there,” Bruderdorff told CNBC.

Out of 32 major auto brands, Jeep ranked last in Consumer Reports’ annual rankings last year, which includes a combination of road test results, predicted safety and reliability ratings and owner satisfaction data.

Recently, the brand announced the recall of more than 320,000 Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee hybrid models due to the risk of fire. The company filed a recall late last month with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but no remedy has been issued.

The company told CNBC that a solution is expected in December that includes a software update to the vehicles’ high-voltage battery pack control module to improve diagnostic capability for early detection of internal battery damage.

The recall comes at an inopportune time, as Jeep is launching a Wrangler-inspired all-electric SUV called the Recon. The car will be unveiled this week ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show after debuting as a concept vehicle in 2021.

The Recon was initially hailed as key to the future of the Jeep brand, with executives saying it would help the company become a leader in all-electric vehicle sales, including the brand’s prior plan to achieve 50% of U.S. EV sales by 2030.

But expectations have dampened as Stellantis named a new CEO and demand for electric vehicles has slowed amid regulatory changes, including the end of up to $7,500 in federal incentives in September to purchase a plug-in electric vehicle.

The end of the federal incentives is expected to impact sales across the industry, including the Recon, but the new SUV serves as an electric vehicle “backstop” alongside the Wagoneer S sport utility vehicle for the Jeep brand’s electric portfolio, Bruderdorf said.

“I’m not going to chase volume just to chase volume,” he said during a recent media call. “I want to sell cars the right way. Everyone wants it [battery-electric vehicle]Rickon, I want to make sure we’re there for them. After that, I don’t really care.”

The Recon is produced at the Stellantis Toluca assembly plant in Mexico alongside the Wagoneer S, Jeep Compass and new Jeep Cherokee, which is offered exclusively as a hybrid vehicle.

Bruderdorff, who began leading the brand in February, said the plant could easily adapt to produce larger quantities of Compass and Cherokee depending on demand for electric vehicles. Both gas-powered vehicles are also expected to be produced in the United States in the coming years for more flexibility.

Several automakers reported significant declines in their electric vehicle sales in October after federal incentives expired as well as the Trump administration’s elimination of fuel economy and emissions fines, which EVs helped offset.

Jeep has released few details about the Recon other than that it will be a “sibling” to the Wrangler – Jeep’s popular off-road and outdoor SUV. Jeep had previously promoted a smaller version of the car that could accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in about two seconds.

The Recon is the last of four new vehicles Jeep will unveil in four months. It started with the new Cherokee SUV, followed by updated versions of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Grand Wagoneer.

Before the introduction of the Jeep Wagoneer S last year and the upcoming Recon, Jeep was focusing on electric sales of hybrid electric versions of the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee rather than fully electric vehicles.

Part of Jeep’s “comeback” included a major push in new marketing and advertising campaigns featuring actor and musician LL Cool J and a bold ad campaign featuring comedian Iliza Schlesinger for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer.

The campaigns, led since June by Jeep’s new vice president of marketing and communications, Wendi Orthmann, align with Broderdorf’s comeback theme, including a showcase of LL Cool J’s song “Mama Saad Knock You Out.”

“Don’t call it a comeback. I’ve been here for years,” the iconic rapper and actor says in the song featured in the ad campaign, calling Gibb his “original influencer.”

Industry observers said marketing and advertising efforts are helping, but what’s most important for the company remains new products, specifically the Jeep Cherokee, which competes in the popular compact and midsize SUV markets.

“They’re still trying to fix things, get the prices right, get the product right,” said Stephanie Brinley, associate director of Automation Intelligence at S&P Global Mobility. “But there’s a lot of potential, especially with the Cherokees coming back. There’s still a lot to come, and I think that will stand them in a good place.”

The company axed an earlier version of the Cherokee as well as a smaller SUV called the Renegade amid earnings pressures under former CEO Carlos Tavares in 2023.

Jeep sales during the third quarter of this year increased less than 0.5% compared to the previous year. Jeep’s U.S. market share has fallen from 5.4% in 2019 to 3.7% since 2024, according to Cox Automotive.

Jeep is dealing with a spiraling decline in sales that began after the brand reached an all-time high of more than 973,000 SUVs sold in 2018. The brand’s sales have fallen 40% since then to fewer than 590,000 units last year in the United States.

With sales down, Jeep transaction prices, or ATPs, averaged about $54,000 during 2023-2024 — well above the industry average of about $48,500 or less during that time period, according to Cox Automotive.

The ATP value of Jeep vehicles during the third quarter of this year was less than $49,800, according to Cox. This remains on top of the industry average of $48,588 but is significantly lower than previous years.

One thing that hasn’t gone down this year for Jeep is inventory levels, according to Cox Automotive. Jeep had the highest days bid of any major brand other than Ford Lincoln at 146 days in October. The industry average for days on display, which calculates the number of inventory days agents have based on recent sales, was 88 days, Cox reports.

“Looking at key brands, recent inventory trends reveal that some manufacturers may be heading into overcrowded territory as consumer demand shifts,” Cox Automotive executive analyst Erin Keating said in a blog post Thursday, citing Jeep specifically.

Jeep’s comeback plan began with Stellantis CEO Antonio Velosa, who previously led the brand. The pace, with Velosa’s support, accelerated under Bruderdorff.

“It’s not like ’26 is going to be a million units because they fix things,” Brinley said. “Once you get off track, it can take a while to get back on track as well, but it starts with the product.” “And that’s what’s coming in 2026.”