The production of  Commander may stop after 2009 model year.The Jeep Commander SUV was  introduced  a year ago but his future already looks uncertain.


The boxy three-row SUV is built at Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit.Auto analysts say that the Commander  is likely to be discontinued after the 2009 model-year, so they already removed this car from the forecasts.

  

Other industry officials  confirmed  that the  Commander will go out of production in 2008, likely after the 2009 model year.The spokesman for DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group, Rick Deneau, said that the automaker does not discuss product plans.


After losing $1.5 billion in the third quarter of last yearwe expect an an extensive restructuring plan for the next period.One of the main problem was  the  similarity in size between Jeep Comander and the Grand Cherokee.The cars were built on the same line at Jefferson North so the Comander didn't bring in different buyers.


With the help of heavy discounts, Jeep sold only 88,497 Commanders last year. They also offered an average of nearly $8,000 in incentives on the Commander in the last four months of 2006. The prices for the Commander starts around $28,000 and can climb above $40,000.


The Grand Cherokee was sold in 139,148 units last year, down 75,000  from 2005, mainly  because the Comander eat the demand for Cherokee, once one of America's most popular vehicles.The Commander has had a dramatic negative impact on the Grand Cherokee so is's a logical move to get rid of the Commander.


Even if the Commander is larger than the Grand Cherokee  is not as large as the Chevrolet Tahoe or Ford Expedition.The Commander is powered by a 4.7-liter V-8 engine. It gets 15 miles per gallon in the city and 19 miles per gallon on the highway, according to the EPA, so this kind of large SUVs have been hurt by fluctuating gas prices and increasing concerns by consumers over gas mileage.


Considering that dealers are saying that the Commander has been successful at drawing buyers,  the main problem may be the time chose for the launching, with the fuel prices going up.