It’s Official: Jeep Will Build A Wrangler-Based Pickup

Jeep Scrambler Concept (Credit: Jeep)

Jeep is finally doing what it should have done long ago, making a dream pickup that’s based on the Wrangler. The stout off-roader is a favorite among enthusiasts, not only in the United States but also in many parts of the world, but admittedly the cargo area is a little on the sparse side. Soon, that will be fixed, making all of your wildest trail dreams come true (well, most of them).

Jeep CEO Mike Manley kept promising a Wrangler pickup, but with no solid news for a few years, many people thought it was just a cruel joke. After all, the Jeep Mighty FC was completely impractical in every glorious way possible, and was doomed to never work, whetting everyone’s appetites further for a Jeep with a payload. Other Jeep pickup concepts were also paraded about, fading into nothingness.

According to The Detroit News, the new Jeep pickup will be coming in 2017 after the next generation of the Wrangler launches. The paper is also reporting that it will be built in Toledo, where the Wrangler is assembled.

Mopar has been selling a JK8 conversion kit for the Wrangler, which transforms it into a pickup. The only problem has been the cost, but apparently demand for the kit has been strong enough to convince Jeep to go forward with a production pickup.

Heritage was also a factor in the decision to make the Jeep pickup. The brand made several pickup trucks, with a continuous string of them from 1947 all the way to 1992. Chrysler killed off the Comanche because it felt the thing was competition for Dodge’s trucks. The Jeep brand is huge on history, being the vehicle that won World War II and all that, so those kinds of things carry a lot of weight.

Speaking of history, the rumor is that Jeep will use the Scrambler name for the new pickup. More details likely will be coming in the latter part of January when Fiat Chrysler holds its 2016 earnings call.