According to a recent report, Jeep’s main priorities for the upcoming all-new Wrangler are keeping the iconic look, improving on-road manners, as well as its economy. In order to achieve the latter, they are apparently considering selling it as a hybrid too.
AutoExpress spoke with Jeep boss Mike Manley, who confirmed the possibility. He said that “for those people who use the Wrangler, the most important thing is the initial torque and the crawl ratio,” adding that “with an electric motor you have the most torque available and with the right combination of transmission and gear ratios you can create incredible crawl ratios.”
However, the hybrid way may not be an answer for the Wrangler, as it running such a system for long periods of time could pose problems off-road. Manley explained that “if you are eight hours and four miles into a trail, there is not a hybrid that we could do which could provide the battery support. The way that combination is calibrated would be more unique for a Wrangler than it would, for example, a Grand Cherokee,” he noted.
Another idea for improving the efficiency is to offer a diesel engine in the States. One’s been available for a while on Wranglers sold in Europe and some other markets, but the old 2.8-liter unit that was used before can’t really cut the mustard any more – it’s thirsty for a diesel and nowhere near as modern as the latest units out.
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