A lighter Jeep Wrangler is coming later this decade, and it’s increasingly likely to take a big part of the 2015 Ford F-150‘s playbook: aluminum. But that could mean a production shift for Jeep’s icon.
At the Paris Motor Show Thursday, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne spoke to Automotive News and strongly supported previous rumors the next Wrangler will be lighter than the current vehicle. In the name of greater efficiency, it will also likely get smaller powertrains than the 3.6-liter V6 and 2.8-liter turbodiesel offered now.
The big change could be an aluminum-intensive, unibody structure to the Jeep that could also result in another big change: the Wrangler could be built somewhere other than the old Willys factory in Toledo, Ohio. Other than some vehicles built in the old AMC factory in Canada, the Wrangler’s home base has been Toledo for pretty much its entire existence.
Don’t fear for Toledo, though. The new Cherokee is built there and production is booming (it was the best-selling Jeep model in the U.S. in September). Nevertheless, big changes are coming soon for the Wrangler.
By Zac Estrada
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