DaimlerChrysler hopes to attract off-roaders and luxury-seekers with the new 2005 Grand Cherokee
It's a scorching 45 degrees in Dubai's Gebel Ali district. A fleet of 12 sleek Jeep Grand Cherokees gracefully glides through the desert. As one car after another effortlessly tackles an obstacle course of rugged terrain, rocky creeks and steep inclines, it becomes apparent that this is one vehicle whose performance is as good as its looks.
The makeshift course in Gebel Ali was part of a DaimlerChrysler event that invited journalists to test drive the newly redesigned and re-engineered 2005 Grand Cherokee. Even for the inexperienced off-road driver, maneuvering in the desert with the Grand Cherokee was a no-brainer: The car basically drives itself, with a much smoother ride than either the Jeep Cherokee and the older model Grand Cherokee.
"I don't think that the new Grand Cherokee can compare with any other 4x4 on the Egyptian market. None can give you the power, speed, performance and luxury both on-road and off," says George Oswald, DaimlerChrysler Egypt's CEO.
The most significant new aspect of the 2005 Grand Cherokee is its Hemi engine. Chrysler invented the Hemi in the 1950s to power racecars; in the 1960s and early 1970s, Chrysler used it in passenger cars that drag racers of the era loved.
The name Hemi is derived from the shape of the engine's Hemispherical, or dome-shaped, combustion chambers. "This design allows the fuel to burn more efficiently, which gives the car more power," explains Oswald.
Chrysler started phasing out the Hemi in the late 1970s when the first wave of fuel consciousness took hold in America. "Car owners became more interested in economical engines, rather than speed and performance, so we stopped manufacturing Hemis for about 20 years," says Oswald.
The Hemi's comeback began in 2002 with the Dodge Durango; this time around, Chrysler improved on the original design of the engine with a special cylinder deactivation system.
"If you are driving from Cairo to Sharm El-Sheikh, for example, at a speed of 120 km per hour, the engine will flip to 4 cylinders in a millisecond so that you can get more efficient gas mileage than you would if you had it running on 8 cylinders the whole time. As soon as you touch the accelerator again the other four cylinders kick back in automatically," says Oswald. "The beauty is that you don't feel any of this happening while you are driving. Fuel prices may not be a big issue for our customers in Egypt and the Middle East, but in other markets the fuel efficiency feature has been a real breakthrough for us," he adds.
Chrysler's Hemi engines are now available in the Grand Cherokee and Durango, as well as the Ram and Dakota trucks sold in the United States. According to Oswald, the Hemis have had huge popularity in the US, where the market still remembers the performance of the engine back in the 60s when it first debuted.
Also worth noting is the Grand Cherokee's Quadro-Drive II system, which can transfer up to 100% of the engine torque to one wheel. "This is really the ultimate off-road performance system in a 4x4," says Oswald. "If you are in the desert, for example, and you have just one wheel that is on the ground, all the power will go to that wheel to pull you out."
A new suspension system also gives the Grand Cherokee a softer, smoother ride and a more luxurious feel.
A new Grand Cherokee in Egypt isn't exactly cheap: LE 650,000 to 700,000, depending on specifications. This tag puts the vehicle in the same price range as the Mercedes E class and the BMW 5 series, both much more popular cars in the Egyptian market than the Grand Cherokee.
"The Grand Cherokee is a totally different kind of vehicle from Mercedes and BMW. It's a much more versatile car. What many people don't realize is that it is a luxury automobile," says Oswald. He projects that annual sales by the end of 2005 will be between 100 and 150 cars. "The response that we have had thus far to this new model is very positive."
"It is my opinion that within the next 1-5 years there will be more changes in the duty structure for automotives. Duties will drop significantly on the vehicle thus driving sales volume up," says Oswald. "The current customs rate is 135% plus sales tax and development fees. This is what keeps the price up and sales down. When you compare our market to the Gulf, for example, in the UAE they will be selling at least 1,500 Grand Cherokees this year. Of course, there the car sells for $35,000, which is more or less the same price that it sells for in the US; we just add the cost of shipping."
In other words: You can buy nearly three and a half Grand Cherokees in Dubai for the same price as one in Egypt.
DaimlerChrysler Egypt currently has no plans to assemble the Grand Cherokee locally, although it does assemble about 1,000 Jeep Cherokees for the local market each year. "We just had a refreshing of the design on our Jeep Cherokee, which we do for all our models every three years. A total redesign comes every six years," explains Oswald.
The company has devised a variety of new customer-service programs to boost sales and improve customer satisfaction. Its Service-Plus Program offers owners free maintenance of their vehicles for the first three years or 60,000 miles. New Jeep owners also receive free tuition for two at the Jeep Academy, a one-day training course that includes in-class as well as practical off-road instruction to familiarize drivers with features of the Jeep.
By Hadia Mostafa
© Business Today Egypt 2005
