Jeep has been making a show of the Easter Jeep Safari out at Moab, Utah for a while now, using the event as a place to unveil concept vehicles and show them off. If you’re Jeep, you simply don’t build a concept vehicle and not prove that it can handle a little bit of dirt, this year the manufacturer really went out of their way to bring some entertainment with them. Take a look below at the concepts…and if you want to see them for yourself, they will be at the 2015 Easter Jeep Safari March 28-30 in Moab, Utah:
1. Jeep Wrangler Africa
Land Rover who? This diesel Jeep has a 2″ lift kit, but clears 35″ BFG Mud Terrains with ease. There’s Dana 44s with at both ends with Fox shocks and the back of the body has been extended a little over stock, and the steel wheels are a very nice touch. We suddenly want to take this thing through a nature preserve. While we’d love a Chief, this would be the one real “concept Jeep” that would be easiest to put into production.
2. Jeep Wrangler Staff Car
Channel your inner General Patton right here. Featuring the kind of seating comforts that could only be dreamed of in the WWII, the Staff Car is similar to the Africa, except the engine here is the 3.6L Pentastar V6 and there’s a cooler in the back for drinks. Open air, military lighting, and it even has the whip antennas tied down right. To hell with a HMMWV, where was this when I was in the Army?!
3. Jeep Renegade Desert Hawk
Regardless of our distaste for Jeep’s newest toy, it’s coming out to Moab as well. The Renegade Desert Hawk is meant to show off Mopar and Jeep Performance parts. There’s a 2.4L four-cylinder and the 9-speed automatic for power, and the interior was done by Katzkin.
4. Jeep Grand Cherokee Overlander
This thing rules. Starting with a 3.0L diesel Grand Cherokee, Jeep added SRT-8 taillights and the power dome hood, created a new front clip, and painted it Sage Green. Rock rails, fender flares and a good-looking 18″ wheel and and BFG Mud Terrain tire setup help, but the coolest part is the roof-mounted shell tent. We’ve seen these before, and they are easy to set up and take down. Lohnes, your new family ride has arrived.
5. Jeep Wrangler Red Rock Responder
The most trail-ready of the concepts, the Red Rock Responder was built to be ready to assist with vehicle breakdowns and repairs while out on the trail. The 3.6L Pentastar sends power through the automatic to front and rear Dana 60s fitted with 5.38 gears from Jeep Performance Parts. A 4″ lift kit and Fox shocks keep the 37-inch BFG Mud Terrain T/A KM2 tires and 17″ deadlocked wheels out of the metal, while a Warn winch, LED lighting for the headlights, fog lamps, A-pillar spotlights and off-road lamps.
The body sports prototype rock rails, Rubicon bumpers, high-top fenders, and side cargo boxes filled to the brim with tools, first aid kits, a recovery kit, Hi-Lift jack, a fire extinguisher, and more. Inside Katzkin leather covers the seats.
6. Jeep Cherokee Canyon Trail
This 2.4L/9-speed automatic Cherokee gets rock rails, skid plates for the fuel tank, underbody, oil pan and front suspension, as well as concept 17″ wheels on BFG All Terrain T/A tires. Not a bad up kit for Four Wheeler’s Four Wheeler of the Year 2014. Hopefully the driver will put the Active Drive Lock (low range and locking rear diff) to good use on the trail.
7. Jeep Chief
Ohhhhh, someone at Jeep really does care. Following a line of never-gonna-happen concepts that raise our blood pressure nicely, the Chief is a killer throwback to the SJ Wagoneer/Cherokee/Grand Wagoneer platform that ran from 1963-1991 in various forms. Based upon a Wrangler, the Chief was built with a “California surfer” theme to it. A lot of it works, including the Ocean Blue on white paint job, the one-off 17″ slot mags on stout BFG rubber, the custom bumpers and grille up front, and the Grand Wagoneer-style taillights out back. Inside become a little more questionable, with white leather seating inset with a Hawaiian flower print, rosewood accents, and a tiki shifter, but even if you aren’t a fan of the surfer theme, you have to hand it to Jeep for knocking the visuals of this thing out of the park by a mile, joining the Mighty FC, J-12 and M715 concept trucks of recent past as drool-worthy but unobtainable dream material.
WHY would they not build the Jeep Chief?! That looks great! Why tease tne people with this stuff then build those little turds they are pushi g now. Build the Chief you noodle heads!
The staff car….BL will be like a school boy at his first junior high dance. Got wood?? 🙂
Yeah .. great . Wonderful concepts . Problem is ;
A) They will never be put into production
and ..
B) Even if they were … they would fall apart before your very eyes like every other pos JEEP builds these days !
JEEP now officially the worst built and least reliable car sold in the US . By a long shot . Beating out the long standing number one . Jaguar/Land Rover
And why is this you ask ? To put it simply … as long as idiots are willing to part with their money to buy these pos JEEPs as is … why in the ___ should JEEP invest the money to make them batter ? Oh … that and the fact as has been proven .. JEEPs assembly line workers have a propensity towards the 420 lifestyle
And as an addendum … JEEP dealers are now officially the worst dealerships to do business with as well … both the retail and the shop side of things
Bu hey … y\’all just keep on buying and promoting Detroit crap … cause as long as you do … they will keep building them … as bad if not worse than ever 😉
This is a 500% improvement over the concepts from last year’s Safari, but the all-time Easter Heep Safari winner was their Forward-Control concept from 2011 or ’12, that was pretty cool.
The only one that feels like it doesn’t belong is the Renegade. But that Chief concept is amazing. And yeah, mooseface, the Mighty FC concept was 100% badass.
Yeah, the Mighty FC was one of their coolest concepts. I love watching the demo videos with jealousy at their angle of approach.
The grill on the Chief is too short, around three inches and Ive never been a fan of the late Waggy/Chief tail lights, I like the early wraparound ones. The command car yes yes and yes!
Why won’t some company build a NuKaiser/Chief/J20 etc body kit for the Wrangler unlimited. I’ve been drooling over each since they debuted. There has been a constant attempt to make the small Jeeps more mainstream since at least the AMC days. If FCA could lower the price a wee bit and offer more aesthetic options I bet they could sell more.
Very cool stuff! Glad to see the Jeep name living on and going strong into the future!
The Renegade and Cherokee will ALWAYS be Fiats…. not Jeeps.
I’ll take the Africa please….
You can hang all the Jeep badges and red tow hooks you want off of the Cherokee and the Renegade…they AREN’T Jeeps!!! They are all wheel drive FIATS!!! Get it!?!? My 93 Cherokee just laughs are these two posers.
What’s with all these Jeep haters. I have a 2014 Grand Cherokee fully loaded and has the panaromic roof. The dealership in Hendersonville, NC was awesome. They found me my dream Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland in Candy Apple Red. I loved the car but hubby said they needed to come down $4000 more dollars before he would buy it for me. He wouldn’t let me go the day he was going to negotiate the last $4000. My face tells all. I knew they wouldn’t do the deal so I prepared to be disappointed. Guess what!!!!??? Hubby brought my baby home. They came down $3400 more dollars and my sweetheart went for it. It’s an awesome vehicle. So stop all you haters. Dealership has been awesome.
I would like to clarify that there’s really only one hater here, otherwise all the comments have been pretty positive.
Heck, I’m a Land Cruiser guy and there’s always some friendly ribbing between the camps, but I like most of these concepts shown.