Mark Allen liked them. The Jeep design team definitely liked them. And the red two-door JL Wrangler Rubicon hanging on an angle during last November’s Los Angeles Auto Show proudly displayed them.
Yet despite all that, it appears Jeep will not be bringing those half doors with ‘donut’ holes to market.
According to David Tracy over at Jalopnik, a Jeep representative told him that those doors were built under the idea they were a prototype. So despite all the interest, when it came down to actually constructing half doors for production, the standard half door ended up winning out.
Those solid half doors will be available for JL Wranglers beginning in the 2019 model year, and will also follow the full-door JL example by incorporating aluminum, which makes them quite a bit easier to remove and handle.
As far as the ‘donut’ half doors, granted, these things were probably little more than talking points, really. A cool design that didn’t have much more functionality beyond something that stood out against the field.
However, there probably would have been a market for them – maybe even one from the off-road enthusiast category, judging by the success tubular doors have had over the years.
Jeep owners, regardless if they actually take the vehicle off-pavement or not, do love the open air experience. Which is why doors coming off, tops having on and off functionality, as well as a folding windshield, all help enhance the ownership experience.
For now anyway, solid JL Wrangler half doors appear on the menu for next year while those 'donut' doors seem set to expire in the back somewhere.
