In a recent speech by Jerome B. York published in Automotive News, Mr. York is discussing how to turn GM around and get it on 'the right path'. In the speech, Mr. York references two previous turn arounds that he had worked on. One was Chrysler in '90 and the other was IBM in '93. What I found interesting was some of the details of the Chrysler "plan". A snippit follows:

From Automotive News / January 10, 2006 Chrysler in 1990

By late 1989 it became obvious to all of us at Chrysler that we were in trouble. Our new model introductions were falling well short of their planning volumes and profitability was trending rapidly downward. The top twenty or so officers began meeting regularly to discuss what we were going to have to do to fix the company. And over a period of six months we developed a plan. As you can imagine, this plan evolved over time, but nevertheless we had a plan that everyone began working towards.

I'm sure many of you will recall the key elements of that plan:

1. We went through the five year product plan and culled out spending that didn't seem to be critical to success, and focused our spending and engineering resources on the four key products being introduced over the next few years:

-- The cab-forward design, LH sedans.

-- The Jeep Grand Cherokee.

-- The Minivan renewal, and

-- The Dodge Ram pickup renewal.

We eliminated things like the JJ program, a vehicle that was intended to compete against the Suzuki Samurai, but just didn't have much volume or profit potential�at least not enough to "make a difference."

So, this begs several questions for the minutiae minded Suzuki enthusiast. Did Chrysler have a concept vehicle built or maybe even a production based vehicle ready? Was this "JJ" program that was ready to compete with the Samurai?  Was this a response solely due to the Samurai's early success? Was it to be a "small Jeep"?  Was it cancelled because the bottom dropped out of sales for the Samurai after the infamous C.R. article?

Of course being information that is more that 15 years old, this is ancient history and has no real bearing on anything current but nonetheless I still wonder if the "JJ program" is discussed somewhere out there in greater detail.

-Eric

From a 1991 Wards Auto World article:

Chrysler Corp. still is seeking a partner for its moribund JJ project, sources say.

Insiders say the cash-strapped automaker would revive the Junior Jeep project if another manufacturer would put in about $350 million. This project was thought to be defunct last year when Chrysler pulled out of a joint venture to build the JJ with Renault SA and later canceled the vehicle. At that time the company said the market niche for compact SUVs was too crowded for the JJ to be profitable. Today, insiders say the JJ market could be 150,000, but some analysts contend it is no more than 70,000.

"It would be great if we could get $350 million for the JJ, but I don't believe there are any substantive negotiations," says a company source familiar with the program. Right now, Chrysler has a skeleton crew maintaining the project, dubbed JJ International, located in Detroit.

Insiders say Chrysler had very informal discussions with Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and Fiat SpA concerning the JJ earlier in the year.

"Fiat was interested, but there are no talks going on now," says one Chrysler source. "They have some commitments in that area and they could use a vehicle like the JJ."

In the original agreement, Chrysler would have assembled JJs in North America while Renault was to produce them in Spain. The companies were to share development costs. In any new plan, Chrysler wants a portion of the build for sale in its dealerships. Sources say Mitsubishi is the strongest candidate for the JJ, but one Chrysler insider says, "There are no talks now."

If the U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement is passed and Chrysler gets a buyer, Mexico could be considered for JJ production, one source says.

Wouldn't the Dodge Raider from the late 80's (rebadged early Mitsu Montero) have been this type of vehicle?  They are about the same size as a Trackick.

Even though it's old, it would still be nice to see sketches and ideas if they had any. Where did you find this being from the early 90's? Burried in the internet 

good article on it!

http://www.allpar.com/model/jeep/jj.html

I think I found a pic! 

Wow, that thing makes the AMC Pacer look pretty.  Did they have to bring in specialized Ugly Designers in to come up with that look?

Excellent net diggin' guys!

-Eric

I don't know... I don't think it's that ugly... I'd drive one! LOL!

it looks like a cross between a liberty/ jy/ 70 series land cruiser and sidekick! 

Wow, that thing makes the AMC Pacer look pretty.  Did they have to bring in specialized Ugly Designers in to come up with that look?

If you are referring to the whacky paint scheme, that probably is an attempt to make it hard for spies to make out what it ultimately will look like...

Too bad they didn't go through with it.

Common guys, it was a Jeep/Chrysler product.  Weak axles, high gearing, low powered engines, bad gas mileage, nice design ruined by crappy production result, unitized hub bearings that fail, probably an air activated front diff, ummm...should I continue?

Now if it had been designed by Mitsubishi or an Asian maker I bet the story would have been different...but...who can ever say.


Oh yeah, and the Raider was bigger than a Track/Kick.  A Raider was just a rebadged Montero/Pajero.  They were about the same size as a Bronco II, S10 Blazer, 2 door Cherokee, Trooper, etc.  There was one in the paper a while before I found my Tracker and thinking it might be a possibility I looked into it.  I was surprised by the size, I too remembered them being smaller, but I guess I was wrong.  It was a rattle trap anyways so I walked away fast...

FUGLY! not to mention that my 9 year old daughter would kill me for buying a "4 letter word car"

Common guys, it was a Jeep/Chrysler product.  Now if it had been designed by an Asian maker......

Yeah, what he said!

it looks like a cross between a liberty/ jy/ 70 series land cruiser and sidekick! 

I think it has a decidedly "Liberty" look to it.