Daydreaming the new Jeep Wrangler pickup

Jan. 24, 2017
It could be the ultimate customizer and upfitter truck when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Jeep Wrangler pickup arrives likely early next year. What will it look like?

It just might deliver the ultimate customizer and upfitter truck when Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Jeep Wrangler pickup arrives likely early next year. Jeep engineers say nearly all — 98% — of current Wranglers sold end up with at least one custom or performance part added by their owners, and many no doubt have more.

That's huge user engagement: few if any vehicles can claim such owner-vehicle identification and individualization. And in the work truck and fleet worlds, a Wrangler pickup could mean a significant variety of useful accessory options, with Jeep certainly no stranger to military, on- and off-road response team, utility provider and other fleet use.

FCA announced a $1 billion investment that will, in part, "retool and modernize" the south plant of its Toledo, OH Assembly Complex to accommodate the Wrangler pickup's production. The company expects to unveil the new 2018 model Wrangler later this year and the pickup variant afterward, but the company and Jeep's former owners have been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to follow and teasing us with a Jeep pickup truck for years.

As FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne put it, "everyone asks about a Wrangler pickup." So what might it look like?

Fleet Owner examines Wrangler and other Jeep pickup cues from FCA as well as pickup options that some determined Wrangler owners with deep enough pockets have been buying for some time now. Also in the last few years, FCA has flirted with tough pickups through concept vehicles — including ones built on Wrangler chassis.

About the Author

Aaron Marsh

Before computerization had fully taken hold and automotive work took someone who speaks engine, Aaron grew up in Upstate New York taking cars apart and fixing and rewiring them, keeping more than a few great jalopies (classics) on the road that probably didn't deserve to be. He spent a decade inside the Beltway covering Congress and the intricacies of the health care system before a stint in local New England news, picking up awards for both pen and camera.

He's written about you-name-it, from transportation and law and the courts to events of all kinds and telecommunications, and landed in trucking when he joined Fleet Owner in July 2015. Long an editorial leader, he's a keeper of knowledge at Fleet Owner ready to dive in on the technical and the topical inside and all around trucking—and still turns a wrench or two. Or three. 

And he's never without a camera, or so rumor has it.

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