Jeep

We do occasionally feature project cars in this series, and that is the case with today's 2000 Jeep Wrangler.

Auto-show media days allow journalists to poke, prod, touch, feel, and inspect new cars. But we aren't supposed to tear them apart.

At about the same time my watch was vibrating me awake for the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show media day, I heard the unmistakable sounds of a band playing 30-odd floors below.

No, I wasn't dreaming -- a band that was apparently part of the auto-show festivities was getting in some pre-breakfast practice.

In the journalism business there's something called a second-day story. This term generally applies to stories that come out of an event but aren't quite important enough to be published on said event's first day. Such is the case with this 2026 Jeep Gladiator Willys '41 Buzz trim -- there were bigger fish to fry in LA, even at Jeep's own stand.

The media day of the 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show is basically over. It's almost Miller Time here on the West Coast.

We've covered the biggies -- Jeep Recon, Kia Telluride, Hyundai Crater, Lucid Gravity Touring -- and we have some Volvo and Genesis news set for tomorrow, plus a little more Jeep stuff.

What, based on what you've seen from our coverage and elsewhere, did you like from the show? What did you not like?

One of the worst-kept product secrets has been the 2026 Jeep Recon. Jeep now has a fully electric off-roader.

Today's recall involves 2023-2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XEs and 2024-2025 Jeep Wrangler 4XEs.

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa revealed during the automaker's latest earnings call that Ram is working on a full-size SUV, expected to enter production in 2028.

Not long ago, the Jeep Grand Cherokee was a leader of the mid-size crossover pack.

Time has changed that, though, as the vehicle has aged. Will the new 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee bring it back to the fore?

Stellantis seems bent on putting a Hurricane engine, cylinders six or four, in just about every product. The 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee is next.

We have a Jeep Wrangler 4xe recall.

The fire that shut down the Novelis aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, continues to disrupt automakers across the industry. What started as a material supply shortage for Ford—the plant's largest client—has now spread to Stellantis, which paused production of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer at its Warren, Michigan, assembly plant.

Stellantis has a major investment in U.S. manufacturing planned, and the company also says it has five new-model launches planned.

Stellantis plans to invest $13 billion in the United States and increase U.S. production by 50 percent.

The company claims that it's the largest in the 100-year history of Stellantis (and its predecessors like Fiat Chrysler).

Hidden within Stellantis' billions of dollars in announced factory upgrades was confirmation that Ram's all-new mid-size pickup will be assembled at the Toledo Assembly Complex, home of the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator.

When it comes to the 2026 Jeep Grand Wagoneer, a lot of the biggest news has to do with lineup and badging changes.

Over the weekend, an over-the-air (OTA) update ended up wreaking havoc on a bunch of hybrid Jeeps. Owners of the Wrangler 4xe PHEV seem to be the worst affected, with customers reporting instances of vehicles becoming inoperable.

Today we serve up for you an off-roading 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Seriously, this one is a mudder.

We have another recall alert. This time, it's from Jeep.

Last year, Jeep announced a plug-in hybrid 4xe version of the Gladiator pickup, but we’ve now learned that the automaker has pulled the plug on the off-roader. It recently told dealers that the truck would be canceled, saying that it would focus more on the features and accessories buyers want.

Jeep parent company Stellantis is recalling almost 92,000 Grand Cherokees from between the 2022 and 2026 model years for an issue that could cause a loss of drive power. The problem affects the Grand Cherokee 4xe plug-in hybrid.

Colorado junkyards are good places to find interesting Subarus, as I've learned after 15 years of living in the Centennial State. The Jeep XJ Cherokee was as popular as any Subaru model here, so those same yards also serve as comprehensive XJ museums. Here's one of the very last XJs built in the United States, and its steering wheel is on the right side.

We have another recall -- this time it's 2024 and 2025 Jeep Wranglers.

You've seen the new 2026 Jeep Cherokee and heard about the specs. Now, what do you think?

The 2026 Jeep Cherokee needed a change to better fight its competitors. Maybe that change would be a simplified powertrain lineup, nicer interior duds, a better transmission, or sexier styling. Instead, Jeep has taken a leap of faith by making the Cherokee its first hybrid.

And, at least for now, its hybrid only.

I'm a huge Wrangler fan. Yes, I agree that highway handling isn't the smoothest, always worse with all-terrain tires of course, but it's not something that bothers Wrangler buyers.

Stellantis’ on-again, off-again love affair with the V8 is back on, in a big way. Jeep CEO Bob Broderdorf recently announced that the Wrangler would keep the 392 V8 option indefinitely and said that the engine would come to the Gladiator as well.

Jeep recently revealed its product roadmap for the next few months, showing redesigned versions of some models, including the 2026 Grand Wagoneer. The full-size SUV gained revised styling, new tech, and a range-extended powertrain.

Today we're going hot-rod with this 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT.

The Jeep Wagoneer has suffered a lapse in sales volume this year. However, your author assumed that this was a problem for all full-sized SUVs and that doesn’t appear to be the case.

We have one more sales report to bring you before going on break for the holiday. That would be Stellantis/FCA US.

SRT is back. So, which Stellantis models will soon be sporting an SRT trim? Which ones should?

Hey, remember the SRT performance subbrand of Stellantis that sort of quietly faded away not too long ago? Well, it's back!

Oh, and Tim Kuniskis, the boss of the Ram brand, is adding a new role to his responsibilities.

In this week's podcast, I laid out my plan for how to fix Stellantis.

The Cherokee has been on a short vacation from the Jeep lineup, but it’s set to return for the 2026 model year with all-new styling and a new hybrid powertrain. While the new SUV won’t arrive until later this year, Jeep is busy teasing the Cherokee with a short video and new images.

Today is unofficially Jeep Cherokee today at TTAC. This tends to happen sometimes -- news of a new or redesigned model rules our little slice of the news cycle for a day or so.

Anyway, Jeep didn't realize much in the way of specs, so you, the potential buyer, can make demands of the brand below.

What do you want to see in the next Jeep Cherokee?

After sitting out of a crucially important midsize segment for far too long, Jeep is poised to re-enter the game with a new Cherokee.

Love them or hate them, there’s no denying the expansive appeal of the Duck-Duck-Jeep movement. Started by Allison Parliament, who sadly passed away last year, the trend involves placing colorful floating duck toys on other owners’ Jeeps to show enthusiasm about the brand. Now, Hertz is getting in on the fun with its fleet of 2025 Wrangler 4xes. Drivers renting one of the SUVs may find a hidden duck in their vehicle, which comes with surprise offers, discounts, and more.

Jeep has confirmed that the next Compass can only be had with all-wheel drive if you’re willing to purchase the top electric variant — at least insofar as the European market is concerned. Meanwhile, North American drivers still don't know if they'll be getting a new version of the model at all.

The all-electric Jeep Recon has seen delays and will now release later in 2025 instead of the originally planned 2024 debut. Despite those challenges, Jeep views the vehicle as its “next big thing,” with an executive in the UK saying the brand sees the Recon as its version of the Land Rover Defender.

Update 5/14/25: Jeep reached out to TTAC to emphasize that the Recon competes as a standalone model and does not replace the Wrangler in its lineup.

With the 2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee fast approaching, Stellantis has decided to issue a couple of teaser images to whet the public appetite. The glimpse provided to us is of the updated interior and revised front fascia. Considering that this is a refresh and not a comprehensive redesign, those may also end up being the biggest changes we see between model years.

Jeep’s first electric SUV has only recently gone on sale, but we’re already learning about the brand’s next model. The redesigned 2026 Compass will arrive later this year, and with it, an all-new electric variant, though it will first release in European markets.

It has been over three years in the making, but the documentary The Last Independent Automaker chronicling the life and times of the American Motors Corporation debuts today on PBS. The team behind the documentary secured over 100 hours of footage from the AMC vaults, scoured hundreds of historical photographs, and interviewed more than 35 people from the AMC sphere.

The Jeep Easter Safari has long been an event that gives the brand an opportunity to show off forward-looking concepts and designs, and while this year largely follows that format, the vehicles on display all look back to some of Jeep’s golden glory days.

Regional special editions are nothing new – witness the scads of Texas Edition and Lone Star badges in that part of the country. This new Big Bear trim for the Gladiator will be reserved for customers in California.

No, the exclamation point in that headline isn’t a notation of our excitement – it is genuinely part of this outrageous color’s official name.

Hey there it's podcast time again!

Despite the recent struggles of its parent company, no one can argue the Jeep Wrangler is synonymous with healthy off-road chops. For 2025, a new Backcountry package seeks to up the ante on the comfort-focused Sahara 4xe trim.

Stellantis is allegedly shifting gears to better cater to the needs of the American market following the departure of Carlos Tavares as its executive officer. The company is signaling it might pull back on all-electric vehicles and may even begin to offer V8 engines again. But there is some conflicting information being presented as the company does what it can to improve public relations.