Muscle Car Owners are Switching to Jeep Wranglers

You’d think people who are buying Jeep Wranglers are former pickup truck owners. After all, both are capable, rugged vehicles that aren’t particularly quick but can get you through difficult terrain. Life isn’t always logical and neither are vehicle choices, at least on the surface. According to Jeep North America Director Scott Tallon, people are trading in their modern muscle cars for the Wrangler.

Yep, the Ford Mustang, Chevy Camaro, and even the Dodge Challenger are the cars many Wrangler owners drove before making the switch. This would help explain why overall muscle car sales are down, meanwhile Jeep sales continue to soar.

What’s driving this phenomena? Muscle Cars and Trucks, which broke this story, thinks it has to do with the American nature of the Wrangler. It stands for freedom just like muscle cars. No doubt that’s a factor, but it probably goes deeper than that.

Driving muscle cars on crumbling roads is no fun, and let’s face it, a lot of America has rough roads. With a Wrangler you just roll over potholes without much worry. Then there’s the customization options for Wranglers. I don’t think there’s another vehicle on the market with more aftermarket products today. Muscle car owners like customizing their rides, but you can do so much more with a Jeep.

Despite the muscle car effect, the overwhelming majority of people buying the new Wrangler JL are JK owners. A fair amount of pickup trucks are traded in as well, but the utilitarian nature of those hardly makes that a surprise.