2018 Jeep Wrangler set for November debut, Ram 1500 in January
A new Cherokee is in the cards some time around the Ram's debut, too.
Spy shots and rumor articles have been predicting near-future debuts from both Jeep and Ram for some time, but now, there's official confirmation.
Fiat Chrysler published an image that charts how its plants will retool for various new releases over the next year. The image confirms that the 2018 Jeep Wrangler will debut in November, followed by a new Ram 1500 in January. A new Jeep Cherokee is slated to enter production in early 2018, as well, but no debut date was offered up.
The beauty of the Jeep Wrangler is that I can use 10-year-old pictures of the thing and it's almost impossible to tell this isn't the newest one.
Both the Wrangler and Ram reveals correspond with two major auto shows. Barring any special one-off events taking place ahead of the shows, it's safe to assume that the 2018 Jeep Wrangler will debut at the Los Angeles Auto Show , and the 2019 Ram 1500 will debut at the Detroit Auto Show . The Cherokee could debut in Detroit, or it may happen a month later in Chicago -- it's anybody's guess.
The back-to-back debuts from Ram and Jeep make sense, because both vehicles will be based on the same platform, which is rumored to feature a whole lot of aluminum. Both will look different, but based on leaked documents, the Wrangler won't mess with success very much, but it will carry a new power-operated top.
Motive force will come from two different engines -- a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder or FCA's tried-and-true Pentastar V6. This was confirmed in a leaked copy of the 2018 Wrangler's manual, because dealers aren't the greatest at InfoSec.
As for the Ram... well, if I don't have anything nice to say, I won't say anything at all.
Here's the full timeline for production shifts, if you're interested in that sort of thing.
