[benbsb29]

After years of carrying on with its focus on the offroad market, Jeep has finally joined the likes of other manufacturers in providing a pickup or ute (Australian lingo), based on the iconic Jeep Wrangler. In Australia, the Gladiator will be pitched against the Toyota Hilux, as well as the Ford Ranger, in a bid to challenge the segment leaders.

Power will come from a powerful 3.6-litre V6 petrol engine (212kW/353Nm) that is matched to a six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic transmission. The petrol variant will be joined later by a 3.0-litre turbo-diesel engine (194kW/599Nm) paired to an eight-speed auto. The diesel’s outputs make it the most powerful ute in its class.

Link

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Attachment 1823242

After years of carrying on with its focus on the offroad market, Jeep has finally joined the likes of other manufacturers in providing a pickup or ute (Australian lingo), based on the iconic Jeep Wrangler. In Australia, the Gladiator will be pitched against the Toyota Hilux, as well as the Ford Ranger, in a bid to challenge the segment

So this is the new Ute based on the Wrangler JL type eh?
Looks good indeed!
Wonder how actually utilitarian it will be as compared with your typical popular Toyota Hilux and other similar vehicles.
Australia became a Toyota dominated market a long time ago, when Land Rover yielded its place to the Land Cruiser.
Yes, there are lot of Land Rover’s and Jeeps there for private use and enthusiast owned etc, but as a hard utility vehicle, what would you say are Jeep’s chances of success?

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Yes, there are lot of Land Rover’s and Jeeps there for private use and enthusiast owned etc, but as a hard utility vehicle, what would you say are Jeep’s chances of success?

With the dual cab pickups/utes increasingly being used as family vehicles, I'd say Jeep has a very good chance with this one, more as a premium offering. The Merc X class has also been a recent entry to this segment, so more the merrier.

[BlackPearl]

I stared at the images for more than 10 minutes, still could not make up my mind if I liked them or disliked them! Usually it is an instant reaction, but with the Jeep pick-up it will take sometime to decide. Seeing it in flesh might help. Regarding target market, I feel it will be a lifestyle vehicle and not a Hilux or F150 competitor.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

So this is the new Ute based on the Wrangler JL type eh?
Looks good indeed!
Wonder how actually utilitarian it will be as compared with your typical popular Toyota Hilux and other similar vehicles.
Australia became a Toyota dominated market a long time ago, when Land Rover yielded its place to the Land Cruiser.
Yes, there are lot of Land Rover’s and Jeeps there for private use and enthusiast owned etc, but as a hard utility vehicle, what would you say are Jeep’s chances of success?

Jeep has a pretty bad reputation with reliability here in Australia and is not on the shopping list of any serious off roader anyway. That market is well and truly captured by Toyota and deservedly so. Search for 4WD Action on youtube. Pretty awesome to see the less taken, incredibly tracherous tracks across Australia and the abuse the Toyota's go through (By far the vehicle of choice).

Given its expected pricing and positioning, Jeep has a chance in the lifestyle segment but it already has formidable competition in the form of recently launched Ford Range Raptor and the Mercedes X Class which should be pretty reliable as well given its a Nissan Navara underneath pretty clothes. It all depends on how competitively they can price it and how reliable it turns out to be.

I would love to get a Ranger Raptor for myself but they have screwed it up with a 2.0 litre Turbo diesel. It may make 210 bhp and 500nm on paper but I am old school in the sense that I would prefer similar output from a bigger engine which would be more relaxed while doing offroad stuff and towing.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

With the dual cab utes increasingly being used as family vehicles, I'd say Jeep has a very good chance with this one, more as a premium offering. The Merc X class has also been a recent entry to this segment, so more the merrier.

Hmm. Put out a pic of the Oz Spec Merc X for comparo would ya?
I haven’t been to your continent since May this year hence haven’t seen one.
Not noticed this vehicle in Europe or Middle East yet either.

[Vikram Arya]

The primary target market for Gladiator is North America and not the traditional overseas market in the short to medium term anyway.

Jeep’s reliability has always been at the bottom of the heap but that has not prevented 225,000 customers in North America (US & Canada) every year to pick up the Wrangler in its various avatars. It is a cult vehicle and boasts of a legacy that no other mainstream vehicle can dream of.

The Gladiator is not going after the traditional quarter ton segment pick up trucks like Tacoma, Colorado or the soon to be launched Ford Ranger (I’m not including the Nissan Frontier as that has negligible sales anyway). Gladiator is purely a lifestyle vehicle that will carve a niche for itself and will also steal some customers away from Toyota, GM & Ford in the subject segment. I will not be surprised if it eats into some sales of the half-ton segment as well (honestly how many of those half ton pick up truck are work trucks anyway?). Having said that it will also cannibalize some JL sales but I’m sure FCA knows that.

Though FCA has not revealed the pricing yet it will most likely be north of US$50,000 with a fully loaded Rubicon priced upwards of US$55-60,000. At this price range, FCA is seriously coming close to half-ton segment truck but I will not be surprised that it will still sell or rather outsell most of the competition.

FCA has perfected the concept of milking the Jeep brand without making the corresponding investment in the quality of the platform or the way they put together the Jeeps at the Toledo plant. It has been only a few months and the JL already has had several recalls including a serious “Frame Weld” issue. Last I heard Jeep was actually pulling the FCA group out of impending bankruptcy & Gladiator will result in incremental sales.

Personally, I believe the Gladiator is too long to and looks unwieldy and that will impact its offroadability but then who am I kidding, it will be for the most part a mall crawler/soccer mom luxo wagon but for a minuscule minority that would dare to take it off the beaten path (hiking trails, backcountry roads anyone?)

I have personally spoken to at least 4 guys on my street who are planning to get one in the summer next year and at this rate, there will be no dearth of buyers for this vehicle & FCA will be laughing all the way to the bank.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

. Pretty awesome to see the less taken, incredibly tracherous tracks across Australia and the abuse the Toyota's go through (By far the vehicle of choice).

Given its expected pricing and positioning, Jeep has a chance in the lifestyle segment but it already has formidable competition in the form of recently launched Ford Range Raptor and the Mercedes X Class which should be pretty reliable as well given its a Nissan Navara underneath pretty clothes. It all depends on how competitively they can price it and how reliable it turns out to be.

I would love to get a Ranger Raptor for myself but they have screwed it up with a 2.0 litre Turbo diesel..

So I was at Uluru and Kata Tjuta etc last Nov and we went about the place in a Toyota LC.
I met an ex Aus Army man and his wife on my travels. They had this huge Raptor all specced up and towing a caravan trailer/ camper. They were on a cross continent trip over 6-8 months visiting every nook and cranny of Australia. Nice people. Good fun chatting with them and looking over their truck. They seemed very happy with its behaviour on their trip.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

So I was at Uluru and Kata Tjuta etc last Nov and we went about the place in a Toyota LC.
I met an ex Aus Army man and his wife on my travels. They had this huge Raptor all specced up and towing a caravan trailer/ camper. They were on a cross continent trip over 6-8 months visiting every nook and cranny of Australia. Nice people. Good fun chatting with them and looking over their truck. They seemed very happy with its behaviour on their trip.

Its not the performance, its the longevity I am worried about after paying $80k for a truck. There is a reason why 4.5 V8 turbo diesel in a Toyota Landcruiser makes 'only' 200 kw and 650nm of torque and yet its one of the best tow vehicle around and Land Cruiser itself is not light with its overall kerb weight approaching 3 tonnes. Its effortless.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Its not the performance, its the longevity I am worried about after paying $80k for a truck. There is a reason why 4.5 V8 turbo diesel in a Toyota Landcruiser makes 'only' 200 kw and 650nm of torque and yet its one of the best tow vehicle around and Land Cruiser itself is not light with its overall kerb weight approaching 3 tonnes. Its effortless.

While Toyota LC has proven itself in that market (amongst others), do you have doubts on the Raptor’s longevity? While it is indeed a newer truck, being a solid American Muscley Ford, I’d have thought they’d’ve built in significant tolerance to “clobber-a-bility”....

This April while I was wandering about Hobart and the Tasman peninsula (went to see some Devils), there were one or two stock spec Raptors about, mostly used by holiday makers.

BTW is there any feedback on the VW Amarok?

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

While Toyota LC has proven itself in that market (amongst others), do you have doubts on the Raptor’s longevity? While it is indeed a newer truck, being a solid American Muscley Ford, I’d have thought they’d’ve built in significant tolerance to “clobber-a-bility”....

I am sure all car's, even one's with average to low reliability come with some sort of tolerance built into their design but car makers do not declare the tolerance along with the CC's and BHP's. A bigger engine which makes the same amount of power as a smaller engine, will almost always be more reliable in the long run than the smaller engine especially when abused. You will be surprised by power relative to their size some truck engines make but we all know why that is. Perfect example in the home market - 1.5 90 bhp diesel in Ecosport and the 1.3 mjd in the lighter Grande Punto.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This April while I was wandering about Hobart and the Tasman peninsula (went to see some Devils), there were one or two stock spec Raptors about, mostly used by holiday makers.

Raptor sells you a lifestyle while Toyota sells you absolute reliability which can use whereever you want to. Have a look at the channel that I recommended in one of my previous posts and see the amount of abuse Toyota's can handle and do handle offroad.

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

BTW is there any feedback on the VW Amarok?

Had a mate working with one of the mining company. The company's Amarok's were dead in 1-2 years time traversing rural Australian outback while all that Toyota's need was fresh engine oil, airfilter and greasing and they are good for another 10k kms and they would go on and on. But it only anecdotal. I did not see it for myself. It also one of the reason Hilux sells more than any other ute in Australia and you can see them working hard around Australia with all sorts of companies.

[sandeepmdas]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Hmm. Put out a pic of the Oz Spec Merc X for comparo would ya?

https://www.mercedes-benz.com.au/vans/en/x-class

If I am not mistaken, Mazda is also selling well in AU ? I could be wrong here....

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by sandeepmdas

If I am not mistaken, Mazda is also selling well in AU ? I could be wrong here....

Mazdas sell well in the passenger car segment, but in the utes/pickups category, they are way off the mark. More so, when you consider the Ranger and BT-50 are based on the same platform, and also indulge in parts sharing.

As per this site, these are the top selling utes for 2017. The situation is not all that different M-O-M, even in 2018.

1.) Toyota Hilux
2.) Ford Ranger
3.) Mitsubishi Triton
4.) Holden Colorado
5.) Isuzu D-MAX

Link

[aah78]

I watched one of the reveal videos of the Gladiator from the LA Auto Show posted by ExtremeTerrain (an aftermarket Jeep parts supplier), on YouTube.

Enthusiasts have been waiting for this for a long time. And it seems like a pretty well thought out & engineered product - doesn't at all seem to be a sloppily thrown together product.

While I'm not a pickup/ute person I see the appeal of these smaller "trucks".

I recently test drove the new Jeep Wrangler JL, & FCA seems to have really come around in terms of overall, especially interior build quality. Loved it!

[extreme_torque]

I think this deserves a separate thread but this is my new fav channel on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/4wdaction

This is the channel i mentioned in my previous post.