A focus group of 20,000 fans of your brand is something most companies would value endlessly, but for Jeep it happens every year – sort of.
The annual Easter Jeep Safari, which takes place in Moab, Utah, has been running for almost 60 years, and Jeep as a company has been involved officially (though only as an attendee and supporter, not an organiser) since the mid-2000s.
The brand started showing up with concept cars built to show off what Jeep could do, and participating in the off-roading fun with customers.
This year, Jeep has seven concept cars to take along.
Head of the Jeep brand in North America Jim Morrison says the Easter Jeep Safari is a good way to get opinions on production ideas from “more than 20,000 Jeep enthusiasts” all at once, so the concepts are an important part of the event for the brand.
“It’s the perfect place to showcase our seven new Jeep concepts, because it’s with these Jeep enthusiasts that we’ll be able to push the limits even more and get their feedback on where they want to take the Jeep brand into the future.”
One of the key concepts, according to a senior figure at Jeep, at least, is a short-wheelbase V8 Wrangler called the Scrambler 392.
Speaking to Australian media before the global reveal of the concept, Jeep’s Head of Design Mark Allen said the Scrambler is, alongside a retromod ‘78 Jeep Cherokee 4xe, his favourite of the 2023 concepts.
“The Scrambler is one of my favourites this year, it really has got a great look and feel to it,” Allen said.
It’s powered by a Hemi V8 and has had plenty of weight shed, but Jeep is using it to show off its newly released AccuAir air suspension kit, developed for the Wrangler.
A Wrangler Rubicon 4xe finished in magenta is also on the list, though its main point of difference is literally just the colour, Allen explains.
“We’d been doing more and more of these sort of jewel tone colours, but we were a bit afraid of doing a pink,” Allen said.
“In 2021 we finally everybody agreed. Let’s try it out. See how it goes.”
The head designer told us the response was far beyond what Jeep expected.
“We originally anticipated about 3000 orders, but it ran away from us and demand was so high. We extended production for an extra month and we really didn’t even get to fill all the orders that were demanded.
“In short, it was a runaway hit and we hit a little vein of gold here.
“It’s important to know the vehicle had no mechanical differences. No features added, it was just simply a colour and that really just demonstrates to us how important colour is.”
As mentioned, Allen also tasked his team with creating a restomod, an old car reimagined with more modern elements, this one a 1978 Jeep Cherokee with a hybrid 4xe powertrain, using a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine and two electric motors.
“There was a certain aesthetic going on at that period of time and we tried to recreate that the best we could but in a modern way,” Allen said.
“It’s got fun features like an eight-track Hi Fi player… one of the techs that was putting this car together, and he’s probably in his early 20s, I had to explain to him in detail how an eight-track works. He didn’t quite understand it.”
Jeep also created an ‘Overland’ concept for the Grand Wagoneer, featuring a roof-mounted ‘cabin’ which can be accessed through the rear of the SUV, as well as a third version of the Magneto EV concept it previously brought to Moab.
The Magneto, as Allen explained, isn’t a proof-of-concept regarding the range and charging capability of the Wrangler as an electric car, but more a look at how it would drive.
“The the first thing people ask me is ‘what’s the range and what’s the charging time?’ because it’s important for them to know. I don’t care,” he said.
“It’s not an impressive range or charging. It was more about what does an electric dedicated Jeep feel like to drive? Like how does it respond and act?”
In addition to these, Mopar contributed two of the seven concepts, one a Wrangler Rubicon 4xe called the Departure, and another the Gladiator Rubicon Sideburn concept, both expo beds for a huge range of Mopar accessories and design concepts.
While the concepts will descend upon Moab over the week of the Easter long weekend, don’t expect to see anything like these in showrooms anywhere, let alone in Australia.
Keyword: A new V8 Wrangler? Jeep brings seven wild 2023 concepts to its annual Easter Safari event