V8 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 to debut tonight

Fresh from confirming the V8-powered Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 concept for production yesterday, Jeep has now admitted it won’t be sold in Australia.

Ahead of its world debut at noon EDT in the US today (4:00am AEST, Wednesday), Jeep issued a statement saying the first Jeep Wrangler V8 in 40 years will be produced only in left-hand drive.

“At this stage, the Rubicon 392 is going to be produced in LHD only,” said Jeep. “With that said, we know how much Australians love their V8s, so if that changes, we’ll be the first to put our hand up.”

That puts the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392, as it will officially be called, in the same boat as its direct competitor, the Ford Bronco, as well as a RHD diesel Gladiator ute – a V8 version of which therefore appears even more unlikely.

For the record, the Wrangler V8 will be released in North America in early 2021 and is expected to be almost identical to the four-door long-wheelbase concept car (a two-door SWB version is yet to be confirmed).

That means it will come with a beefy 6.4-litre V8 outputting about 336kW of power and 610Nm of torque, plus a two-mode exhaust system, eight-speed automatic transmission and selectable four-wheel drive system.

Jeep says the HEMI-powered Wrangler 392 is claimed to hit 100km/h in “less than five seconds”, which puts it close to par with the $250K Mercedes-AMG G 63, which does the 0-100km/h dash in 4.5sec.

Ensuring it can also head far off-road, the Wrangler 392 concept was also fitted with a pair of Dana 44 axles, a low-range gearbox, locking front and rear diffs, aluminium monotube Fox shocks and a two-inch (51mm) lift kit that brings ground clearance to a mammoth 337mm and its wading depth to a deep 864mm.

Less likely to reach production are the huge 37-inch mud tyres on 17-inch rims, although the concept featured a number of new options that could be offered as dealer-fit accessories for the Jeep Wrangler, including steel bumpers, a winch, hard-core rock rails and a steel belly pan.