When will order banks open for Gladiator Diesel?

[Oilburner]

TFL originally reported, based on what they were told by FCA, that the Ecodiesel Gladiator would be released about 4 months after the Wrangler was released. That means that April would be about the timeline. I know I've said this before, but I will repeat it for those who haven't heard it. According to FCA, the plant that manufactures the 3.0L VM Motori Ecodiesel has a limited production cap. This is one reason why they released the Ram Ecodiesel first, then the Wrangler Ecodiesel second, and the Gladiator third. FCA said there would be a slow-release of diesels. This news had me worried that the demand for the Gladiator Ecodiesel might be higher than the supply. This means that dealers would be less likely to give big discounts. I think I read that the Ecodiesel in the Ram would be reduced to 3% of the total sales.

Well if the Wrangler demand is any indication, they are tracking maybe 100 custom orders, plus the dealer orders- say that’s also 100 = 200 diesels of 225,000 JL's they sell this year. Even if you double the diesel number, that would be less than .2% of sales.
How many diesel JT's would be ordered? A few dozen? 100?
The introduction of the Ecodiesel has been sporadic at best for the Wrangler, but they are being built and delivered, a few every week. There apparently was a holdup over egr cooler parts, but based on their tracking info, they seem to be getting on track. Hopefully this spring the Gladiator line will be ready to produce 3.0's and will have learned some lessons from the JL startup, and VM will have gotten their production rate improved. Just like the JT's were slow to be produced at first, they can crank them out much faster now.

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[Billy]

Well if the Wrangler demand is any indication, they are tracking maybe 100 custom orders, plus the dealer orders- say that’s also 100 = 200 diesels of 225,000 JL's they sell this year. Even if you double the diesel number, that would be less than .2% of sales.
How many diesel JT's would be ordered? A few dozen? 100?
The introduction of the Ecodiesel has been sporadic at best for the Wrangler, but they are being built and delivered, a few every week. There apparently was a holdup over egr cooler parts, but based on their tracking info, they seem to be getting on track. Hopefully this spring the Gladiator line will be ready to produce 3.0's and will have learned some lessons from the JL startup, and VM will have gotten their production rate improved. Just like the JT's were slow to be produced at first, they can crank them out much faster now.

The KJ and WK/WK2 numbers for diesel were in the 10s of thousands... Each.

I think once they get the JLUs on lots, it'll take off.

 

[WXman]

The KJ and WK/WK2 numbers for diesel were in the 10s of thousands... Each.

I think once they get the JLUs on lots, it'll take off.

I owned two KJ CRDs. 16,000 is a number that comes to mind. It's been a long time now, but I think they made 16,000 of those and sold ALL of them nearly immediately. They did it as a "test" to see if a light duty diesel Jeep would actually go over in the U.S. Clearly, it did. The second one I owned I had tuned by GDE. After that, it would get 500 miles on a single tank of fuel.

However, I recall that the turbo-diesel option was around $1,800 and it included alloy wheels, Selec-Trac transfer case, higher capacity battery, and several other things, making it a steal. And in 2005, diesel fuel wasn't $0.40/gallon higher than gasoline. So, it was a far better buy than today.

 

[Billy]

The second one I owned I had tuned by GDE. After that, it would get 500 miles on a single tank of fuel.

Whoa. Yes please.

However, I recall that the turbo-diesel option was around $1,800 and it included alloy wheels, Selec-Trac transfer case, higher capacity battery, and several other things, making it a steal. And in 2005, diesel fuel wasn't $0.40/gallon higher than gasoline. So, it was a far better buy than today.

It seems that the current version for $4k gets you the Rubi axles, HD brakes and maybe even the HD suspension?

 

[Oilburner]

Too soon?

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

Someone I know that's in the car parts business said the transfer cases in the diesel Wranglers were "blowing up." I really want to wait for a diesel Gladiator, but I worry I'd regret it at the first sign of an issue.

 

[biodiesel]

Someone I know that's in the car parts business said the transfer cases in the diesel Wranglers were "blowing up." I really want to wait for a diesel Gladiator, but I worry I'd regret it at the first sign of an issue.

I'm not saying this isn't true, but this is my first time to hear that. Nonetheless, the benefit of buying new is that you have a warranty.

 

[Oilburner]

Someone I know that's in the car parts business said the transfer cases in the diesel Wranglers were "blowing up." I really want to wait for a diesel Gladiator, but I worry I'd regret it at the first sign of an issue.

Alex, I’ll take: “3rd-hand derogatory anecdotal hearsay”
For $500 please.
I have a 2020 Wrangler Ecodiesel, I’m on the Wrangler forum with probably 2/3 of the rest of the 3.0L’s that have been produced & sold. Never heard of a single t-case issue. There are always things to be aware/concerned about, but I would not consider this to be one.

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

Alex, I’ll take: “3rd-hand derogatory anecdotal hearsay”
For $500 please.
I have a 2020 Wrangler Ecodiesel, I’m on the Wrangler forum with probably 2/3 of the rest of the 3.0L’s that have been produced & sold. Never heard of a single t-case issue. There are always things to be aware/concerned about, but I would not consider this to be one.

It’s ok if you think that. This friend is usually in on these things and has been proven right often. I hope he’s “wrong” in this case as I’d like to get a diesel myself. I couldn’t tell if he was specially talking about the SelecTrac Sahara diesels or in general. Asked for some clarification. For the record he loves the diesel in the Wrangler and talked me into buying a diesel in a BMW SportsWagon several years back so it’s not like he has a beef with diesels.

 

[WXman]

Well, apparently FCA stopped offering the EcoDiesel with the Rubicon trim. This happened about a month ago.

They're still offering it on Sport/Sahara.

I wonder if Rubicons were grenading driveline parts offroad which caused them to pull the diesel option until they find a cure?

Edit: Apparently it's back, because the online tool is showing me the diesel option just fine.

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

It’s ok if you think that. This friend is usually in on these things and has been proven right often. I hope he’s “wrong” in this case as I’d like to get a diesel myself. I couldn’t tell if he was specially talking about the SelecTrac Sahara diesels or in general. Asked for some clarification. For the record he loves the diesel in the Wrangler and talked me into buying a diesel in a BMW SportsWagon several years back so it’s not like he has a beef with diesels.

OK he said it was with the SelecTrac which is probably why it's not an option anymore on the EcoDiesel Wrangler?

 

[biodiesel]

OK he said it was with the SelecTrac which is probably why it's not an option anymore on the EcoDiesel Wrangler?

SelecTrac was never offered in the Jeep Wrangler EcoDiesel. This is from November 12, 2019. "Jeep isn’t making the Selec-Trac transfer case with its full-time four-wheel-drive option available with the diesel engine, though an engineer said that’s more a complexity-reducing decision than any technical hurdle. That’s a shame as the full-time mode is a set-it-and-forget-it features that works well in rainy or slushy conditions."

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

SelecTrac was never offered in the Jeep Wrangler EcoDiesel. This is from November 12, 2019. "Jeep isn’t making the Selec-Trac transfer case with its full-time four-wheel-drive option available with the diesel engine, though an engineer said that’s more a complexity-reducing decision than any technical hurdle. That’s a shame as the full-time mode is a set-it-and-forget-it features that works well in rainy or slushy conditions."

sorry, should’ve said ... why it was NEVER an option.

 

[biodiesel]

sorry, should’ve said ... why it was NEVER an option.

So, we can agree that there are no transfer cases blowing up. In other words, you can't blow-up something that doesn't exist. So, that's one less thing to worry about as you make a purchasing decision.

 

[Husker4theSpurs]

So, we can agree that there are no transfer cases blowing up. In other words, you can't blow-up something that doesn't exist. So, that's one less thing to worry about as you make a purchasing decision.

Yup, correct. Sorry, I was confused from what he said.

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