Chicago Auto Show: Ford, Jeep SUV rivalry spurs king-of-hill battle

CHICAGO — All of us like to think of the auto industry as a mature, serious business; one that puts tens of billions on the line each year and makes sound, logical decisions based on sound, logical business practices that have been honed to a razor-fine point over more than a century of practice.

And then you remember: This is a $6 trillion industry run by hugely competitive people with proportionately sized egos. Petty rivalries from long ago are rarely fully forgotten, and fits of pique can occasionally be measured by actual peaks — as they are at this year's Chicago Auto Show.

Two giant steel structures again loom large over the show floor, but their proportions have ... evolved since last summer.

One is the newer "Bronco Mountain," introduced by Ford when it resurrected its Bronco off-roader in 2020.

The other is over at Camp Jeep, where Wranglers, Grand Cherokees and Gladiators demonstrate their trail-conquering capabilities under the lights.

Both climbing hills are the centerpieces of their respective experiential marketing ride-along displays, for which showgoers regularly stand in line for hours to try.

There would seem, on the surface, to be more than enough room for both of these indoor mountains in the cavernous McCormick Place, where the pandemic-age Chicago show has shrunk to fill just the South Hall.

And that would be true, if you were only looking horizontally.

But here's the thing: The climbing hill at Camp Jeep in years past was 18 feet tall.

When Ford built Bronco Mountain, it set its summit 21 feet in the air.

And this year? Well, there's a new climbing hill at Camp Jeep. It now crests at 28 feet.

I asked Jim Morrison, who heads the Jeep brand, about the apparent one-upmanship and whether the height of Bronco Mountain had anything to do with the newly elevated peak in Camp Jeep.

"Competition is always good," Morrison explained.

The Camp Jeep climbing hill "is maxed out at 28 feet really only because of the height of the ceiling. We could have made it bigger, where you could actually touch the ceiling as you go over."

Morrison said that Jeep expects to have 25,000 showgoers take a trip through, up and over Camp Jeep.

Ford expects a similar number through its display, one of several ride-alongs set up by various automakers in the more than 1 million square feet of floor space being used for this year's show.

A bit later in our conversation, after he talked about how ride-alongs make auto shows more interactive and interesting and help consumers understand what vehicles can do, the always enthusiastic Morrison restated his earlier point, before tacking on an addendum.

"Competition is great," he said, "but at the end of the day, it is kind of cool to be bigger."