AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – Say what you want, good or bad, about this year's crop of Moab Easter Jeep Safari concept vehicles, but it looks like we haven’t seen everything yet that will be heading to Utah.
Following the concept vehicle press tour inside Fiat Chrysler Automobiles sprawling Auburn Hills, Michigan complex, several media members Thursday stumbled across another concept design area where employees were working hard on an eighth Moab vehicle.
According to FCA promotional materials, this Jeep is scheduled to park next to the Quicksand concept in Moab, but does not yet have an official name. However, several in the media were overheard calling it the Wrangler Junior. In addition, the unfinished vehicle appeared not to have much in the way of steering componetry, leading some to theorize it may be Jeep's attempt at an autonomous concept.
”It definitely was a JK and had a Willy's logo across the hood, but it was far shorter than a traditional Wrangler and missing just about everything you'd expect to steer with on the driver side from what I could tell," said Autowheel's Carl Ellis. "In fact, it was small enough that we dubbed it the Wrangler JR. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a closer look as they closed the doors on us when they saw our interest."
"We've seen Jeep incorporate drone technology in several other concepts this year, so I wouldn't put it past them to have an autonomous vehicle in Moab. It just may be a small one."
FCA is currently working with Google, providing the Alphabet company numerous vehicles for its Waymo self-driving division. The partnership has nearly 100 Pacifica minivans in the field as Waymo is studying how to make autonomous driving safer and more efficient. In return, FCA is gaining multi-media and driver improvement technology it can place in current vehicles - like the Chrysler Portal.
But how this would fit into the Wrangler line is unclear.
One industry theory is that Jeep wants to test a smaller Wrangler for urban use, where parking demands and narrow, potholed streets are highly prevalent. A Wrangler JR would be able to navigate these obstacles with ease, while still providing a rugged look that many desire.
Those who wish to take a Wrangler JR off road would also be in luck, as the shorter - but high clearance - vehicle could deftly handle tight trails while avoiding larger and dangerous obstacles.
Whatever the reason, FCA did not have any comment on its mysterious Wrangler JR concept when asked. But Mike Manley, Head of Jeep Brand for FCA, did say the company certainly loves this time of year.
"Easter Jeep Safari is a must-do event for us, and it's really a time when we let our engineers, our colleagues in Mopar and our stylists, our designers loose, and they literally go unsupervised — which you can see some years," Manley said. "For us, it's like a true lab."
Will we see that Jeep Wrangler JR concept in Moab? Nope. But Happy April Fools Day from Quadratec.
