Jeep Wrangler ute details soon

Reports of a Jeep Wrangler pick-up -- or ute, as we call them in Australia -- have been confirmed by Jeep's head honcho, Mike Manley, at the 2016 New York motor show.

Although he refused to say when we'll see the new model – or the new-generation Wrangler 4WD on which it's thought to be based – Manley said: "We will do a pick-up, which is great news.

"It's something that's been on my agenda for a long time. That will follow the next-generation Wrangler."

Jeep's global boss was clearly excited to be openly talking of the new ute but when quizzed over which platform it would be based on, he clammed up, conceding only: "You've only got a few more months to wait to find that answer out."

Expected to be offered with a range of petrol and diesel engines, paired to manual and automatic transmissions, it's been widely reported the new ute will be based on the new-generation Wrangler, itself not expected until 2017, with the ute maybe a year after that.

Back at January's Detroit show, Manley echoed the comments of his boss, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles CEO Sergio Marchionne, who earlier this week verified that the Jeep Wrangler ute would be manufactured at the company’s Toledo plant in the USA, alongside the next-generation Wrangler.

Since then Jeep has suggested the Crew Chief 715 concept (pictured) that's being displayed at this week's annual Moab Jeep Easter Safari in Utah provides clues to the appearance of Jeep's first ute.

However the Jeep ute comes into being, it will be highly sought-after by Australian buyers who will likely appreciate it's rugged off-road ability and load-carrying capacity. Roughly one in five new vehicles sold in Australian last year were utes.

Jeep sales in Australia have been dropping for the last 12 months, an issue exacerbated by "exchange rate headwinds", to use Manley's words. Logic would suggest a pick-up would certainly be a boon for the local operations fortunes.

Nevertheless, Manley stated in no uncertain terms that Australia was not guaranteed to get the new model.

"Australia's considered a key market," he said, "[But] whether it gets that vehicle or not depends purely on what we perceive the demand to be, so we're gathering all that information at the moment."

When pushed on whether the Jeep ute will be built in right-hand drive, which is a necessity for sale in Australia, the Jeep supremo said "I'm not confirming whether it will or won't at this stage."

"Not confirmed," he reiterated for the clarification of Australian journalists in attendance.