Someone check if the sky is falling because the unthinkable just happened. The Jeep Wrangler might get independent front suspension.
On Monday in Las Vegas, as SEMA kicked off Head of American Brands for Stellantis Tim Kuniskis surprised everyone with the debut of the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT Concept with, among other things, independent front suspension. Buried in the announcement speech came a question posed by Kuniskis. “Do we leave this only for SRT? Or do we make this an option for all Wrangler customers?”
The Wrangler Scrambler SRT Concept, which is absolutely not a concept as I saw it in May and it’s part of the upcoming product plan as part of Stellantis’ larger turnaround plan that includes 60 new vehicles and 50 refreshes by 2030, debuted the independent front suspension system Kuniskis posed the question about.
“Before I start getting the hate mail, I’m not asking you to give that up, I’m asking you can you have both,” Kuniskis said. The Father of the Hellcats was referring to a solid front axle vs. independent front suspension. “Can you go off-road high-speed in this [pointing to the Scrambler], and low-speed rock crawling in this [pointing to a Wrangler concept] and have both exist,” Kuniskis continued.
“The bigger question is, do we leave this only for SRT, or do we make this an option for all Wrangler customers? I don’t know the answer. But I’m pretty sure in the next two or three days we are going to find out because we are going to get flooded with love mail and hate mail, and we are going to have to figure out where the tide breaks,” Kuniskis said.
The Scrambler SRT will arrive by 2030. The independent front suspension has been co-developed with off-road racing champion Casey Currie. The setup, featuring 2.5-inch diameter Fox shocks that appear to be a long-travel design, were tested in Currie’s custom Jeep Gladiator “Striker,” which won a class victory in the NORA 500.
One of the Jeep Wrangler’s hallmark features is its solid front axle, which off-road enthusiasts brag about. The Ford Bronco arrived and has nipped at the Wrangler’s sales for years thanks to driving better on-road. The reason the Bronco drives better? Independent front suspension is one of the largest reasons.
Both the Wrangler and Gladiator are built at Stellantis’ Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio. The upcoming Ram Dakota, which will share its underpinnings with the Gladiator, is expected to be built at the Toledo Assembly Complex. It’s the same story with the Scrambler. This could enable any and all of these models to suddenly feature independent front suspension.
The Scrambler SRT will be a lower-volume vehicle compared to the Wrangler, Gladiator, or the Ram Dakota. Spreading the cost of the independent front suspension makes business sense.
It’s highly unlikely Kuniskis just floated the idea of independent front suspension being offered on the Wrangler as an option if it wasn’t already coming. It’s best to prepare the faithful and set expectations before the sky falls. Jeep’s likely real sick of the Bronco chipping away at its sales, and addressing on-road driving dynamics might go a long way to protecting the Wrangler’s hill upon which it sits.
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