Jeep is prepping its fans for something grand.
It’s no secret that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is reviving the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer. Now we apparently know that details are coming soon.
On Friday, the company posted two images on its corporate website. One is a start button from inside a vehicle and another features the letters, “ONEER,” and an American flag icon, possibly as part of how the name would appear on the outside of a new Wagoneer or Grand Wagoneer.
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Earlier in the week, FCA teased fans with a couple of not-too-subtle tweets on its Jeep account. One on Wednesday included a picture of a vintage Wagoneer with the classic wood-grain look and an instruction to “unfold the map and hit the road. #WagoneerWednesday”
On Monday, the company tweeted a picture of the Grand Canyon and a definition of the word, “Grand,” as “magnificent and striking in appearance, size or style.” That could suggest either the Grand Wagoneer or the new Jeep Grand Cherokee, which is also in the works.
FCA CEO Mike Manley even discussed the upcoming launches briefly in the company’s recent earnings call. He noted that the new SUVs would help improve the outlook for the company, which lost $1.24 billion in the second quarter compared with the same period in 2019, because they would be in one of the most profitable vehicle segments. FCA, like other automakers, has been hammered by the downturn connected to the COVID-19 pandemic, although the picture in the second half of the year is expected to be better.
Production at Warren Truck Assembly is currently down through the end of September as the company preps for the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer launches.
In a timeline on the company website, FCA notes that the Jeep Wagoneer was introduced in 1962 and marked “the first time that four-wheel drive and an automatic transmission are combined in an SUV.” The luxury Grand Wagoneer ended production in 1991.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @_ericdlawrence.