They've got to meet emissions and gas mileage standards for one thing. For another most people or customers could give a crap less about off road vehicles. A dirt road is what they consider off road and they are more concerned about how smoothly it rides and how much techno stuff can be crammed into the dash. Those of us who really use our vehicles off road are just a drop in the bucket in the overall scheme of things. Hell my dealer has sold a bunch of FJs and they still all come up and ask me where I've been because they know I use mine. Most of their customers FJs come in all shiny and haven't seen anything more than a mud puddle and some dirt/gravel on the piece of road construction in the middle of town.

 

They've got to meet emissions and gas mileage standards for one thing.

Ian Rutherford Plimer is an Australian geologist, professor emeritus of Earth Sciences at the University of Melbourne , professor of mining geology at the University of Adelaide , and the director of multiple mineral exploration and mining companies. He has published 130 scientific papers, six books and edited the Encyclopedia of Geology.



The volcanic ash emitted into the Earth's atmosphere in just four days by that volcano in Iceland has totally erased every single effort we have made to reduce the evil beast, carbon. And there are around 200 active volcanoes on the planet spewing out this crud at any one time - EVERY DAY.




I don't really want to rain on your parade too much, but I should mention that when the volcano Mt Pinatubo erupted in the Philippines in 1991, it spewed out more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than the entire human race had emitted in all its years on earth.

Yes, folks, Mt Pinatubo was active for over One year - think about it.

Of course, I shouldn't spoil this 'touchy-feely tree-hugging' moment and mention the effect of solar and cosmic activity and the well-recognized 800-year global heating and cooling cycle, which keeps happening despite our completely insignificant efforts to affect climate change.
And I do wish I had a silver lining to this volcanic ash cloud, but the fact of the matter is that the bush fire season across the western USA and Australia this year alone will negate your efforts to reduce carbon in our world for the next two to three years. And it happens every year.

Just remember that your government just tried to impose a whopping carbon tax on you, on the basis of the bogus 'human-caused' climate-change scenario.
Hey, isn’t it interesting how they don’t mention 'Global Warming'
Anymore, but just 'Climate Change' - you know why?
It’s because the planet has COOLED by 0.7 degrees in the past century and these global warming bull artists got caught with their pants down.

And, just keep in mind that you might yet have an Emissions Trading Scheme - that whopping new tax - imposed on you that will achieve absolutely nothing except make you poorer.
It won’t stop any volcanoes from erupting, that’s for sure.
But, hey, relax......give the world a hug and have a nice day!"

Thank your politicians for this .

 

It's the feds!

 

The markets been dying for years most 4wheel drives now aren't even true 4 wheel drive. Durago, Grand Cherokee and most imports have fau 4 trac carp my 2013 dodge dually 4wd is pretty **** too and personally wranglers died with the tj
The jk just doesn't have it. Land rivers have lost there edge too. But they cater to the 90% and husband and honestly most wife's would rather have cross over or super Ute and for them 4wd is a cool badge on the truck

 

I wish I could understand this.

 

Also most people on here and other 4wd forums buy all stuff they including winches and icon this that and the other and go hard offroad is jumping the curb at Mickey d's

 

In my area extreme off road or crawling is virtually unheard of , the landscape is part of the reason, we have mountains and timber areas and many of those are protected against ATV use. That said I don't see why Jeep should have the exclusive

 

While they are at it Toyota should retire the Tundra!!



The Market tells us what it wants!
The many owners of Jeep over the years have done a great job at building a Super Brand.(even if the truck they build lacks the quality and reliability that their advertising boasts)
Most kids, and probably every boy child, wants a Jeep at some time in their lives- even if its just in the sandbox!
It is hard to overcome that inherent advantage, to do so would take a long time and alot of heart to overcome the low sales numbers, I thought Toyota was in this for the long run, it seems that is not so.
They can certainly afford the fight, I guess they just don't have the heart to hang in.
IMO, while they are in the act of giving up on vehicle concepts, they should retire the Tundra, the big three are never going to lose their lead in that segment either.
gm

 

it sucks

 

2X....gm

 

My first was a cute little country red head, oh wait ... trucks, ok,
'79 GMC in-line 6, I could sleep in the cab, the bed, or the engine bay :lol:
'95 Silverado, 11 wrecks and stolen twice, wait, 12 wrecks, still kickin' like a chicken!!
Ya'll come on over to the Mighty Muddy Mississippi, we'll show you what 4x4 really means

 

All I'm saying is that they have to meet the standards or Laws that are set for emissions and fuel mileage. If they don't meet them then they pay fines or whatever. They are trying to meet these by lowering the weight of vehicles by making cross overs without frames and by using lighter materials which takes away much of what we want in an off road capable 4x4. I'm not a tree hugger and I'm not trying to be touchy feely about anything and I could care less about what some scientist says. They've been saying a lot of things for a lot of years and some is good and some is crap.

 

Right there with you, Bigguy. I think most of us understood what you meant.

All the preceding explanations are valid for the demise of the off-road vehicle; government CAFE standards, market shifts, etc. And I agree that if Toyota took the fight straight to Jeep by coming out with a true FJ40 heir, that is a small 4-seater with a removable top, well let's just say Chrysler would have a bad day. Until that happens, I'll hang on to my FJ Cruiser for all it's worth.

 

Face it, we are at a crossroads here....in order for 4x4s to progress, they will have to meet all of the govt regulations. Like it or not...the trend is going towards electric power. This is all a good thing in the respect of less weight, better reliability, more ground clearance, lower center of gravity....oh yeah, less emissions. 4x4s are not going away....they are just going to evolve.

If there is a profit to be made....someone will step up to make it happen. I am reasonably sure that Toyota and Nissan will leave the void unfilled for long.

Doc

 

Face it, we are at a crossroads here....in order for 4x4s to progress, they will have to meet all of the govt regulations. Like it or not...the trend is going towards electric power. This is all a good thing in the respect of less weight, better reliability, more ground clearance, lower center of gravity....oh yeah, less emissions. 4x4s are not going away....they are just going to evolve.
If there is a profit to be made....someone will step up to make it happen. I am reasonably sure that Toyota and Nissan will leave the void unfilled for long.
Doc

Good point Doc. :wave:

 

We've become a nation of panty-wearing girlie men; no sense of adventure anymore. Every time I pull up next to some guy driving a Kia Rio or worse, a Prius, I want to roll down the window and ask him wtf his problem is. :lol:

$3.80/gal gas doesn't help matters, either. Then there's the Feds, environmentalists, etc.

 

Hey...hang on there! I drive a Prius EVERYDAY as a commuter car. My FJ is an offroad vehicle and used for that purpose! So please don't lump us all in to the tree hugging morons! My purpose is to save gas going to a job that is necessary. I drive the FJ for fun! I have the best of ALL worlds!

 

Y'all are missing the essential factor here. It has little to do with fuel efficiency or environmental issues or even Jeep's market domination. The fact is - and this has been demonstrated by much market research, available online - that pickup trucks have replaced full-framed SUV's as vehicles of choice because they are more flexible. With relatively recent additions like crew cabs, coil front suspensions, steering improvements, interior features, etc., trucks can commute, haul, tow, and go off road - leaving the full-frame SUV market as a narrow specialty, dominated by Jeep.

If I could only buy one vehicle, which of my five would it be? The sensible yet fun answer is obvious: my crew cab 4x4 pickup truck, which easily has the best all-around capability - and gets better mileage than two of my SUVs. Truck manufacturers are aware of the issue and have been redesigning their vehicles specifically for the multipurpose markets for ten years. It's paid off. The off road market isn't dead. It's changing.

 

Who the hell has fifty large to blow on a 4-door pickup, before any mods? I'd buy a Jeep before I'd buy a pickup. Everyone needs to wheel a 19' long truck in the woods. :rofl:

 

Honestly a LOT of people seem to...or borrow it at least.

We are just not "the market" anymore. Sad

 

That does not bade well for us (not that I really off - road, I'm one of those mall crawlers that generates the real market for these vehicles).

 

I don't get it either.
Around here they pull around another 50k worth of landscaping equipment when not pulling their toys.
Some of their work crew have green cards. I'm also sure some don't.

 

I believe it's many factors that are for the reason of this.

The first of which is the government regulations on fuel mileage that others have pointed out. This was created by both oil companies and government officials. The oil companies still want dominance in the world as the go-to industry for fuel. We could have had electric cars, or even cars that run on water 30 years ago, but lobbying by big oil prevented all that. Volkswagen released a 70 mpg electric-diesel vehicle 4 years ago that we have yet to see in the states. Why? Because it's said our government officials need the gas tax to run operations. People saving money with super fuel efficient cars would cripple governments. That's why I think these fuel efficiency standards are a joke.

One thing that may happen, I'd like to term the X-Box One effect.

For those unfamiliar with the X-Box One, it is supposed to be the next generation console, but was blasted for its necessity to be constantly connected to the Internet and other draconian features it offered. Let's compare it to crossover vehicles. The X-Box one received criticism especially from those who lived in areas with bad Internet connections and those people started leaning toward the next generation playstation which required no Internet connection. We'll compare the next generation playstation to true 4x4 SUV's.

With the entire market shifting toward crossovers specifically because of the urbanized people that request them, the people that need SUV's in rural areas for everyday work are hung out to dry. This includes the recreational off-roader. This is part of the reason why I think Toyota is still in the game.