A pickup-based Jeep concept vehicle
The Detroit News is reporting that Jeep will unveil their latest Jeep concept vehicle in January at the Detroit Auto Show - the pickup-based Jeep Gladiator. Here's a snippet:
Chrysler will unveil two new concept vehicles at the Detroit Auto Show in January -- a pickup truck for the Jeep brand and a sports car for the Chrysler brand -- which will give the world a taste of where the automaker could be heading in coming years.
The Jeep Gladiator is a knobby-tired, mid-sized truck with a peel-back canvass roof and diesel engine that revives a name used on a 1960s-era Jeep pickup. The Chrysler Firepower is a rear-wheel-drive sports coupe with a 425-horsepower engine that could be considered Chrysler's answer to the Corvette.
Chrysler design chief Trevor Creed said the two models were "purely concepts," and that the automaker had no plans to manufacture them.
...snip...
The Jeep brand has not marketed a pickup since the early 1990s, when the Comanche mid-sized truck was phased out. The truck-like Jeep Scrambler died in 1985. The original Gladiator pickup was discontinued in 1969.
The Gladiator does not share underpinnings with any Jeep model. It has a 2.8-liter turbo diesel engine that generates 163 horsepower, and boasts 13.7 inches of ground clearance. An exterior-mounted spare tire and exposed door hinges add a rugged look. But it has one of the more modern gadgets to show up on a pickup: an expandable truck bed.
Chrysler has already placed the Gladiator in a category of its own -- calling it a "flexible utility truck."
Be sure to check out the entire article for more information and photos.
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