It’s a strange year for car sales in the United States. Between Nissan’s deterioration, the constantly shifting trade landscape, and broader economic uncertainty, 2025 is shaping up to be yet another year where previous trends have been rendered entirely meaningless. Case in point? The full-size SUV segment.
This is one niche where trade wars are largely irrelevant. All of America’s brawny, body-on-frame SUVs are built right here in the States. Case in point: the Jeep Wagoneer. That’s the Wagoneer, previously known as Jeep, or something confusing like that. I’ve been in this business for 15 years, and even I don’t understand what Wagoneer is.
Judging by the sales numbers, others are confused, too. So far this year, Jeep has sold 13,616 Wagoneers. A year ago, that figure was 29,843. That’s a drop of 54%. The only production vehicle in Jeep’s lineup that is doing worse is the Grand Wagoneer, which is down 58% from last year. On paper, the only cars doing worse are two models Jeep doesn’t even build anymore, the Renegade and Cherokee.
Demand for full-size SUVs is not to blame, at least not from what I can tell. The Tahoe, Suburban, and Expedition are all having great years, and even the Grand Wagoneer’s luxury competition is breathing easy. Lincoln’s having no trouble moving Navigators (up 74% for the year so far), and the Escalade (up 27%) and Yukon (up 22%) are likewise selling just fine.
If there’s any good news, it’s that Jeep—sorry, Wagoneer—has sold about 6,200 examples of the new Wagoneer S. The EV sits a class size down, competing more directly with midsize two-row SUVs like the Grand Cherokee (non-L). That’s enough to erase this year’s Grand Wagoneer sales deficit, but even factoring in the S’s sales, the “brand” is still short about 14,000 sales compared to a year ago.
Wagoneer’s upmarket positioning is made precarious by a Stellantis-wide push to mitigate years of relentless price hikes. Thanks to incentives and a more aggressive pricing strategy, neither the Wagoneer nor Grand Wagoneer is appreciably more expensive than it was when it launched. That doesn’t make them cheap.
With Stellantis dealers nationwide scrambling for cars customers can afford, I have to wonder, at this point, does Jeep even need Wagoneer to be… whatever Wagoneer is? Or is it time to embrace the old-school Wagoneer’s folksy charm and abandon the notion of an even-more-premium sub-brand altogether? My gut says yes.
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