It took Jeep awhile to field the Gladiator, so those who have been itching for a modern version of the Scrambler should be pretty happy. But Jeep pickups, the Comanche included, have never truly been about endless variety of body styles — certainly not the kind of variety one can get in full-size pickups. And the Gladiator is a big truck, with a wheelbase significantly longer than that of a four-door Wrangler, measuring 137.3 inches compared to 118.4 inches. With an overall length of 218 inches, it's over 2 feet longer than a standard four-door Wrangler, easily making it the largest Wrangler variant in the whole lineup.
The original CJ-8 Scrambler, if you recall, was definitely not a four-door — being based on a long-wheelbase version of the CJ-7, it boasted just a 103.5-inch wheelbase. Viewed through today's eyes, the Scrambler of the '80s was a pocket-size trucklet with enough room for a mountain bike and an Igloo, and that's about it.
Jeep has been downplaying the prospects of a single-cab version of the Gladiator, despite the fact that only days ago it unveiled just such a concept alongside other Easter Jeep Safari custom builds, featuring a 6-foot bed instead of the 5-footer you'll find in the production Gladiator. The reasons for Jeep's skepticism are understandable: Most people buy the four-door Wrangler rather than the two-door model these days, and those who will be buying the Gladiator won't be doing so to make use of every square inch of its bed every day.
The Gladiator itself, while offering 4×4 capability and plenty of versatility, can be viewed as a four-door family vehicle first and a pickup as a distant second — that's where we are in 2019. And those buyers who need the bed space but don't need the extra seat room will be buying one of the many versions of the Ram 1500 pickup. Jeep has definitely researched the market demand for a single-cab version with a shorter wheelbase and perhaps a longer bed, and while it can certainly sell such a vehicle, the number of buyers may not warrant the investment in a separate model.
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