“The Wagoneer pioneered the sport utiliy vehicle marketplace, the most car-like 4x4 in spite of its massive boxy shape.” - Tony Autor Lewin author of 'How to design cars like a pro'
Many Jeep enthusiasts remember back in 2011 when Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne announced the revival of a treasured nameplate for the Jeep faithful, the Jeep Grand Wagoneer. Initially unveiling and production of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer was to begin on January 2013, but a lagging economy and strong sales from the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee have pushed the Grand Wagoneer onto the back burner...until now. Strong sales of current Jeep Vehicles as well as research and development for the Jeep Grand Wagoneer picking up steam have the 2015 Jeep Grand Wagoneer set for full steam ahead.
Chrysler recently reported that they have a sales problem with its dealerships. A good problem for some. Simply, they can’t keep up with production numbers high enough to satisfy how fast these vehicles are flying off the showroom floors. You can thank Chyrsler’s design team for upgrading the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee enough to were there are more buyers then ever before. And it helps immensely that the Jeep Grand Cherokee is sharing development with the M-Class Mercedes.
What really kicks the 2015 Jeep Grand Wagoneer into full gear is the fact that 6 members from the Chrysler development team showed up to Wagonmaster, a company in Kerrville Texas that specializes in turning 1963-1991 Jeep Grand Wagoneers back to near perfect factory conditions. The field team wanted to gain a better understanding of there customer. According to WagonMaster’s owner Leon Miller in partnership talks with the field team,
“Jeep is looking at three power plants including a small displacement turbo-diesel and what would likely be the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 married to an eight-speed automatic transmission, as well as a small-displacement turbo diesel and a V8."
The Chyrsler group even showed a few early sketches of the Grand Wagoneer and what they had in mind.
Although this is all preliminary, we do know that Jeep will build there prized 7 seater iconic luxury SUV. We will see the demise of the Dodge Durango unfortunately, but this newest SUV should fill those shoes pretty easily.
Click here to visit Wagon Master's website!
Source: Autoblog
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