A Sharp Turn Seems To Be Getting Back on Track -- I first met Jeff Bell at Camp Jeep in 2003. I was able to interview him at the hotel where we were staying. I remember barely getting a greeting out before he started asking me those kinds of questions you know he really doesn't want an answer to: "What do you think of this hotel?" "Can you imagine we get paid to be here?" "I wonder how many Jeeps they'll have this year?" And it wasn't long after that I realized this was his first Camp Jeep (it was only my second) and the very first opportunity he had since being hired as the new Jeep marketing and product leader to enunciate his future plans for the brand.

The corporate edicts were clear: Find a way to make every brand that DaimlerChrysler (at that time) owns grow, preferably into new markets. As Jeff spoke, I have to admit, the plan made sense. The SUV segments where Jeep competed were fairly mature and much of the predictive data he had was saying it was going to get even more competitive and possibly start fragmenting in all sorts of directions (boy, was he right about that). As a result, he argued, the best way to grow Jeep, one of the strongest brands in the DaimlerChrysler portfolio, was to create new products where Jeep hadn't competed yet. It just made sense. At best, you could expect two-, three-, or five-percent growth in a mature segment, but in a new arena, even if you don't do well right out of the gate, every sale you make is added right on top -- like gravy to a roast or frosting to a cake. During this download, I realized I hadn't asked a question in about 15 minutes. And much of the time it seemed Mr. Bell was talking past me to some imagined audience.

I was struck by his pitching, his speeching, and even his cheerleading. Phrases full of praise for the engineering team, the design team, the marketing team, and P.R. team were flowing like a wide river, with more praise for past products and even some of the future design drawings. I was starting to feel good about everything Jeep was doing, which was strange at the time because I knew there were rumors about some products they were playing with that didn't seem as 4x4-capable as what they'd done in the past. And surely this guy knew that a lot of hard-core Jeepers weren't happy with what Jeep was doing with the Grand Cherokee or even the existing Wrangler, let alone getting rid of the Cherokee.

But here he was, singing the praises about how great everyone around him was. All right, you can't fault a guy for wanting to spread a little cheer and support to his team. Or can you? I'd seen it too many times before. Loud cheerleading works well in the beginning with the right audience but can poop out quickly unless there's some substance or meat behind it. The meat he was proposing had to do with creating some new Jeeps, both large and small, to offer products to new customers who didn't have the chance to purchase into the Jeep family (as I recall, close to his words). He was talking about getting non-Jeep people into Jeeps, and the best way to do that, I thought I heard him say, was essentially to make some non-Jeep-type vehicles.

He spoke about being careful sharing platforms but certainly putting some of that famous German know-how to good use, as long as they understand what a real Jeep (his words again) needs to be. Jeep had just gotten rid of, arguably the first SUV, the smaller Cherokee, and Mercedes-Benz had recently come out with a new four-wheel independent M-Class SUV. Whatever was going to be new, Jeff said, was going to have to be, in some way, tied to Jeep DNA. If they were going to share a platform, it couldn't just be about saving money. It had to be a Jeep. After all, Jeff also said, you've seen all those bumper stickers, right? "It's a Jeep thing. You wouldn't understand." It struck me at that point, that if there was a better marketing guy who understood the value of bumper-sticker sloganing, I'd never met him. And Jeep now had him in charge of arguably one of the strongest brands the U.S. has ever seen.

What happened? Well, we got things like the Liberty, Commander, Patriot, and Compass. None connected to Jeep with any really passion or strong tie to the Jeep history. In fact, you could argue the Compass and Patriot are really cars. Of course, they share the platform with the Dodge Caliber car. How, exactly, does that make them Jeeps? To be fair, Jeep has had some recent hits as well as these four strikes. Clearly, the highly successful four-door Wrangler Unlimited is stunningly well done. We'd also include the Jeep Gladiator concept pickup from two years ago, which still has people talking about it.

They both seem like no-brainer homeruns, but Jeep dragged its feet with the Unlimited and now it's dragging its feet with the Gladiator. We'll have to wait to see what happens there, but the writing on the wall for the Compass and Patriot is large and in bold typeface. Pushing to make these "Jeeps" for first-time buyers seems to have missed the point why the brand is so special in the first place. Part of buying a Jeep is what the vehicle says about you and what you like to do or are capable of doing. If you make a vehicle that isn't capable of doing much, then that doesn't say much about what you're able to do. I'm not sure Jeff Bell understood that during his tenure, which is partially why he left almost two years ago.

To be honest, Jeep hasn't had much leadership, until now. Dan Knott was formerly the head of Dodge's SRT performance division and miracle worker when it came to putting together complete power packages for the likes of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep. He was the push behind the SRT versions of the Chrysler 300, Dodge Viper, and Jeep Grand Cherokee (the SRT-8 is one our personal favorites), and the major force behind the 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10 Guinness World Record run, I can just imagine how the top-level discussions about Dan Knott went.

"We need to get somebody back in at Jeep who knows how to be credible, passionate, and knows how to deal with enthusiasts…" From there, we're guessing, it wasn't too long before Dan's name popped up.

I've met Dan several times over the years with the introduction of various new vehicles and heard him speak to hard-core Viper club guys, to tech-hungry journalists, as well as first-time car buyers, all with the same energetic passion and respect for the product. In fact, I just spent some time with him in Moab, Utah, where he was basically doing dome background research. Right around Easter, the entrance into Moab becomes the Pearly Gates of Heaven, as four-wheelers from all over the world come to taste some of the most spectacular and challenging 4x4 trails in the world. And most of them drive Jeeps. Dan was the first to admit he was there to learn more about the heart and soul of Jeep by talking and learning from the Jeep faithful. And it looked like he was enjoying himself. Seems encouraging to us, and if anyone can make the transition from passionate go-fast enthusiasts, to equally passionate go-slow enthusiasts, Dan looks like the guy. We take the fact that he's here at "Hard-core Central" rather than a shopping mall to interview potential first-time car buyers to be a good sign for Jeep. Would be nice to see them get back to their roots after straying a bit.

Here's my only warning for Dan: These men and women who look at their Jeeps as their ticket to serious fun have sensitive BS meters. If you try to cheerlead or make speeches for the sake of hearing yourself speak to "the incredible elasticity of the brand," they'll smell you coming a mile away and you won't be helping anyone. We wish you well. And we all still think the Gladiator Jeep pickup should be a no-brainer.