The Jeep ute is returning to Australia after an absence of almost 30 years.
The only catch is that first you must buy a four-door Wrangler Unlimited priced from $36,000 – and then buy the Mopar-designed conversion kit that transforms the vehicle into a pick-up in a matter of hours, or less if you know what you’re doing.
A video posted by Jeep online (link below) shows it took four expert Mopar engineers just one hour to fit the kit, which costs $5499 in the US and likely will cost a similar amount locally.
Although Jeep Australia is yet to set the price of the JK8 conversion kit (pictured hereabouts as part of a US-based concept car) it has five sets on their way to Australia for an initial evaluation.
The boss of Jeep Australia, Clyde Campbell, told Motoring.com.au: “I got a tip from a very knowledgeable automotive industry source, an impeccable source, a forward thinking progressive individual who tipped me off about this and it’s now been activated.”
The last ute Jeep sold in Australia was the CJ-10 available between 1982 and 1985. Powered by a 3.3-litre Nissan diesel engine it was distinguished by rectangular headlights.
It was primarily an export vehicle for Jeep at the time (although the US military did take delivery of some CJ-10s) but global demand was weak and the model was dropped. Jeep builds a Wrangler-based ute in Egypt, but that vehicle, the J8, is not engineered for RHD markets.
Watch the time-lapse video of the new ute conversion kit being fitted to a Wrangler Unlimited.
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