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JEEP will muscle in Australia’s booming 4×4 Pick-Up market with a four-door utility based on the next-generation JL Wrangler.
Championed for almost a decade by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group chief operating officer for Asia/Pacific, Michael Manley, the JT Wrangler Pick-Up will enter production in the third quarter of 2018, about nine months after the three-door hardtop and five-door Unlimited wagon versions arrive.
“The first production will be August or September 2018, so by the time that gets into our international markets, we’re probably looking at very early 2019.
Spy shots reveal a four-door dual-cab utility body, integrated neatly behind the future Jeep Wrangler front. As a rugged 4×4 vehicle it will retain a body-on-frame construction, but we hear that the newcomer’s doors and front mudguards will switch to aluminium to cut weight.
While the next-gen Wrangler’s styling is a gentle evolution of an eight-decade-old design, there are many detailed changes, including larger circular headlights with LED inserts, a more angled grille, longer bonnet, and a slightly more raked windscreen.
Jeep has been on the Wrangler ute scent since it displayed the Gladiator Concept at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show – though nothing came of that.
The Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux are locked in battle for leadership with around 25,000 registrations apiece, with the Mitsubishi Triton third with almost 15,000 sales.
