Jeep and Texas have deeper ties than I thought
I’ve got to be honest: I’d never really thought of Texas as big Jeep country considering all the pickups that are sold there. In fact, I never really thought about the brand’s popularity in the Lone Star State until I started reading about the five awards Jeep won at the recent Texas Auto Writers Association’s annual Truck Rodeo.
While no match for Ford at this year’s event, Jeep managed to round up five awards at the show, including best midsize SUV with the 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland 4×4, best off-road SUV for the 2015 Jeep Wrangler, best midsize luxury SUV for the 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit EcoDiesel 4×4, best compact SUV for the 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, and the SUV of Texas 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
“With Jeep sales up 45 percent so far this year, Texas remains a tremendously important SUV market,” said Mike Manley, president and CEO of Jeep. “Over the past five years, we’ve proven that winning these TAWA awards increases Jeep showroom traffic and sales.”
Scouring the Internet, I even stumbled on some pretty cool photos of Wranglers off-roading in Texas, like the one at the top of the story and the one below, both from the Lone Star Jeep Club (LSJC). The club, established in 1997, is one of the largest Jeep clubs in Texas.
For me, it’s all a sign that I need to spend a lot more time outside Detroit before making general assumptions, especially when it comes to the popularity of Jeeps.