You are very correct sir!!! Import and legalization outside of domestic market vehicles is a major pain in the rear end. Unless the car/truck is over 25 years old it is an insanely expensive process mostly reserved for high end exotics and collectibles, and even than no guarantee you will be able to drive the car on public roads.I guess you could import one but I imagine the costs and paperwork would be a nightmare.
That thing is awesome.
I took a gander at the Australian Toyota website recently and boy am I jealous of the models they get.
Lifestyle is the problem, I can’t pin a % on it but way more dress up the $50K Barbie vs rolling Barbie around in the mud puddle. Jeep knows that, they know it’s not the crowd of yesteryear, it’s whole new thing now. So do the bazillion bed rack and whiz bang makers. On an interesting note some underground mines use them, the diesels anyway. Strip off doors and put flatbeds on them. They actually look kinda cool with an aluminum flatbed. I’ve run into them in the wild around underground mines.They’re a good product. That range (70 series) is essentially a highly refined, developed, strengthened, reliably and efficiently repowered Willy’s pickup of the 50’s.
It’s the exact concept, 70 years on. With A grade engineering throughout.
They’re far from perfect. One can read plenty on the dislikes. But they’re minor aspects, relatively.
Where, once upon a time, Jeep abandoned utility vehicles and switched to mainstream consumer demand, Tojo made the same switch yet managed to keep the utility line updated and desirable for mining, commercial, industrial, oil, aid and military applications. To name a few.
As it turns out it makes a great recreational platform to.
This is why I wish Jeep would figure it out and drop the “lifestyle” angle across the range. Ditch it as a total brand theory.
Gladiator has all the potential in world to cater to said users. Stripped back. Strengthened here n there. A dependable gutsy worker engine option. Steelies obviously and none of the bling.
And yeah, why not? It’s only Jeep that holds Jeep back when it comes to Gladiator. It’s the platform that takes them back to one major part of their roots.
Utility.
That's where the money is anyway....They have to fill all of the jihadist orders before they start exporting that thing to the US.
So the UG mining thing reminded me of something. Few months back I stopped by this relatively large ranch operation my father in law does side welding for. Having general chit chat made mention I could strip this down to a rolling gas can and he confusingly ask why. When I told all tops, doors could come off, window can lay down and then said somewhere you can get a flatbed for them also he was super interested and at the same time didn’t even know or think about it. See he uses side by side for lot of utility stuff, use a truck only when needed. SxS don’t last, the minute any of them get used hard for work like that they fall apart and fast. He was going to look into them as a possibility to use instead. Cost wise would be more but honestly not by much. SxS’s are on a whole other level of stupid cost.Lol. Yes. Actually v well said.
Yet between the crowd of yesteryear (us), and the utility users mentioned earlier, surely there’d be a few sales in it!?
Your underground mining findings are really interesting! And not surprising. Not at all. Bc the platform has such talent.
And Gladiator even does some things that the 70 series does not do, cannot do and will never do; ie a dual cab that can go topless with an solid/bankable robust protective cage. All from factory. The Jeep character. Windshield. Top off. And suspension that is ACTUALLY suspension. (As opposed the 70 series rail cart flex capability).
I mean hands up who would want one in a similar spec to what you described or say as per the spec of that 70 series single cab pickup that OP showed us?
I would. Yes pls. All day long.
The crazy thing about it is that Jeep and all the other left Tojo (it’s what we call a 70 Toyota here) to that entire market!!
They literally have that market to themselves. Well Ineos are having a dabble. But that’s all they’re doing bc they’re Ineos.
It’s a unique thing when a manufacturer totally owns the market. It’s why they’re expensive. It’s kind of like how Jeep have the solid axle topless PhEV market to themselves. And don’t look to be threatened. Ever.
It means one thing, high prices for 4xe’s and 70 series and good profit margins for Jeep and Toyota in those market spaces. Oops that was two things.![]()
Only because we keep recharging their EBT card…..That's where the money is anyway....