In the Army Now: Jeep Re-Joins the U.S. Military

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Thats the fact, JACK!​

Autoblog
Remember those Jeep Wrangler pickup spy shots? Now we know the details. That vehicle was one of the variants of the new Jeep J8. The J8 is based on the Wrangler Unlimited and has been designed for military and civilian government use. It sports a reinforced frame and upgraded suspension that includes the much-discussed rear leaf springs that were pointed out in the earlier spy photos. Maximum payload is 2,952 lbs. as a result.

It'll be offered as both a four-door that looks mostly like the civilian Wrangler Unlimited and a 2-door pickup. Jeep sneakily showed off the pickup body on the very awesome SEMA-bound JT Concept earlier this year. The J8 is designed to be very flexible, and will be available in a variety of seating/cargo configurations in both left- and right-hand drive (again, this explains the RHD version captured in spy photos).

Power comes from a 158-horsepower / 295 lb-ft 2.8L 4-cylinder turbodiesel mated to a 5-speed automatic and Jeep's Command-Trac 4WD system. The powertrain affords the J8 a maximum towing capacity of 7,716 lbs. Another feature unique to the J8 is its air-intake system, which uses a hood-mounted snorkel that lets it ford bodies of water up to 30 inches deep and operate in sandstorm conditions up to five hours.

For full information on the J8, follow the jump for the official press release from Jeep. The truck made its debut today at the DSEi trade show in London, and it will be produced in Cairo, Egypt at a Chrysler LLC joint-venture facility. It will officially become available next Spring, though only for military and civilian government use. Sorry, no civilian sales will be offered.
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Thats just too cool, really nice to see Chrysler back in the Military saddle again... Where Jeeps belong. Sure, this thing can't hold a damn candle to that new International-built HUMVEE replacement, but this should serve its purpose quite well for light-duty use around the camps, short-distance driving (with protection from small-arms fire), and other use in more "civil" places like Germany and Japan.

Can I order mine in Olive Green with a big white star on the door?
 
Well, it looks like something some park ranger would drive, not a military vehicle.

But what does that matter? Army doesn't care about looks. And this sounds like a pretty sweet "Wrangler." It should serve to be very useful for light-duty stuff. The Wrangler line has always been a good vehicle. I'm guessing it's role will be similar to that played by the WWII Jeeps?

Very good to see these things on the lines again.
 
Funny, this is possibly one of the best looking vehicles coming from Chrysler. :lol:
 
I always wondered when they were going to do this, should help them get back on track money wise too, sure as hell wish I could buy one of these bad boys
 
-> Will that be covered with that lifetime warranty if I get it brand new? Because THATS the Jeep I like!! Purpose-built, no BS like the other new-gen Wranglers. And look, it already has a built-in snorkel! ~cool~ :drool:

~> All it needs now is a Warn winch! :dopey:

- I hope it comes with a manual transmission. :worried:
 
My guess is that it will, although, maybe not. Military service vehicles may not have them, but I'm sure it will be an option on the civilian projects.
 
This really should have happened 10 years ago, but its refreshing nonetheless. The not-particularly-good-at-anything Hummer gets replaced by two vehicles that do the Humvees' dual roles better for less (or more likely, roughly the same).



And am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the Military Jeeps are going to have better engines and transmissions than the Civilian Jeeps?
 
Toronado
And am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the Military Jeeps are going to have better engines and transmissions than the Civilian Jeeps?
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No, I also found that to be quite funny.
 
Toronado
And am I the only one who finds it hilarious that the Military Jeeps are going to have better engines and transmissions than the Civilian Jeeps?
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Doesn't that make sense? The military jeep has to do a lot more than the civilian one. Civilian jeeps are designed as road vehicles that are capable of more abusive use. The military will want something designed to be rugged yet is capable of driving around.
 
And? The Civilian Jeep (I could get used to that) has the terrible 3.8L OHV engine (grr, I'm anemic) and the crappy 4 speed (which sucked when it was new in 1989). I want an engine with power/torque and a good transmission. The Civilian Jeep (that is fun) has neither. All I'm saying.
 
philly cheese
Doesn't that make sense? The military jeep has to do a lot more than the civilian one. Civilian jeeps are designed as road vehicles that are capable of more abusive use. The military will want something designed to be rugged yet is capable of driving around.
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You have that backwards almost. The Military wants something just as capable while being able to withstand serious abuse. The civilian variants just have to have something under the bonnet which gets the wheels moving.
 
Here's the good news: We can probably buy used versions of this Jeep in less than four years at best.

My guess is that Jeep will eventually make the Civilian Jeep similar to this, but the cost of production has to be lowered first.
 
JCE3000GT
You have that backwards almost. The Military wants something just as capable while being able to withstand serious abuse. The civilian variants just have to have something under the bonnet which gets the wheels moving.
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My guess is that the military will want this to be able to handle most terrain and probably tow stuff. They shouldn't care too much about road manners while the civilian one has to be designed to be able to be useful on the road. I know that the civilian Wrangler is a tough vehicle, but I'm just saying that this should be tougher.
 
Except they already said in the article that the military jeeps won't be sold to the public... Though I imagine we will see some of the features it has become available as options. The military wants a vehicle any idiot can jump into and drive right away without having to worry about who drives stick and who doesn't
 

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