Spotted: a Jeep Gladiator in the Netherlands

Pickups are becoming increasingly popular. In North America, where the pickup market was serious anyway, but also in Europe. Jeep, meanwhile, had not had a pickup in its lineup for a long time but wanted to take advantage of the growing demand. So it developed a pickup based on the Wrangler. The end result hit the market in 2019 – as the 2020 model year – under the name Jeep Gladiator. A historically accurate type name.

Jeep Gladiator not the first Jeep pickup

After all, this is not the first time Jeep has introduced a pickup. For example, there were already pickup versions of the Jeep CJ models, the further developments of the iconic Willys Jeep. A pickup according to the current concept appeared in 1962, in the form of the Gladiator. That was a two-door pickup based on the Jeeps Cherokee and Wagoneer – better known to enthusiasts as the Jeep SJ models. Starting with the 1971 model year, the Jeep Gladiator J-Series went through life. Its production came to an end in 1988.

One size smaller

In 1985, Jeep also introduced a smaller model pickup for the 1986 model year, the Comanche. That was a two-door pickup version of the recently introduced Jeep Cherokee of generation XJ. With this, Jeep also offered a pickup in the compact segment by American standards at the time. The Jeep Comanche remained in production through model year 1992.

Jeep Gladiator makes comeback

Back to recent times. So for the 2020 model year, the Jeep Gladiator made a comeback. However, the basic concept of yesteryear has not changed: the new Gladiator is a derivative of an already existing Jeep model. However, it is strictly speaking more of a successor to the Jeep CJ pickups than to the earlier Gladiator (or the Comanche). Also a first for Jeep is the release of a four-door pickup.

Although the Jeep Gladiator is positioned as an independent model, it remains, of course, simply a “Wrangler Pick-Up. In terms of equipment and engine offerings, then, the two models are largely similar. This makes the Gladiator the only newly available pickup with a removable roof. However, the Gladiator is only available with the 3.6-liter V6 gasoline engine and 3.0-liter V6 turbodiesel. From the front, the Gladiator can be identified by the slightly larger openings in the grille’s grid.

The spotted specimen

The Jeep Gladiator we spotted appears to have been registered in July 2021 and has been driving around the Netherlands since September of this year. According to RDW Data, there are currently 27 examples of the current Gladiator on Dutch license plates. By the way, we have come across a similar one before, but only now got the chance to admire the model closer. Salient detail: frankly, the cargo box was not added to the Wrangler design in a particularly harmonious way. Even so, it does remain one of the cutest and toughest pickups of the moment. So we can understand why this entrepreneur fell for (the charms of?) this distinctive commercial vehicle.