Wrangler ute confirmed for Oz

Jeep Australia has confirmed it will sell a ute version of the next generation Wrangler.

The confirmation came today from the head of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia, Pat Dougherty and the company’s head of product strategy and marketing, Zac Loo.

The only catch is that Aussies will need to wait until the next generation of Wrangler for the ute variant to hit the streets. At this stage that means a launch date in the second half of 2017 – at the earliest.

Long rumoured and much talked about, the Wrangler ute was confirmed in September 2015. In terms of the local marketplace, it will be sold in four-door crew-cab form only.

Aside from those bare essentials, few details were confirmed today, although Loo reiterated the vehicle will be aimed at lifestyle buyers and Jeep will “not go into the realm of cab-chassis” pure commercial sales.

“We’ve been on record saying we want to expand the Wrangler line beyond two-door and four-door variants that we have today, including a pick-up. We see a good opportunity in that [ute] market.

People have started to transition to wanting a ‘tool of trade’/leisure vehicle – a car they want to drive on the weekend,” Loo explained.

“Wrangler is a unique car in the market. Combining that [off-road ability] with the versatility of a ute tray will bring another dimension to a product that we know is already very special,” Loo stated.

“It will be built on the new-generation Wrangler platform,” Loo confirmed.

Australia is one of the largest markets for Jeep’s iconic Wrangler outside the USA. As such Jeep Australia’s support of the ute variant was considered in the production decision.

“I’m not going to say Australia originated it but it’s something we’ve been working on with the USA for a number of years,” Loo stated.

“We have articulated the size of the [local] pick-up market. They do it [a ute version] for other [military markets] around the world – this is progressing it to an everyday civilian use car that we can have in our [ongoing] line-up,” he said.

And Wrangler is not the only pick-up FCA is keen to add to its local offering.

FCA Australia CEO Pat Dougherty today reiterated the company’s desire to add light duty 1500 Series Ram models to its line-up, but cautioned the arrival would be linked to the re-engineering of the body-on-frame US-market pick-up for it’s next “freshening”.

He stated the separate importation and conversion of heavy-duty 2500 and 3500 series Rams would not hamstring FCA’s efforts.

“We really want to compete in the volume section of the truck [ute] market,” he stated.