Friday Fantasy: The 2005 Jeep Gladiator Concept Was Entertaining

By Gary Gastelu |

Sep 15, 2023

The Jeep Gladiator has been redesigned for 2024, but remains very much the same truck that debuted in 2020.

The biggest changes are a new grille shared with the 2024 Wrangler and the addition of side curtain airbags, power-adjustable front seats and a larger touchscreen for its updated infotainment system.

It’s still only available as a four-door with a five-foot bed, but Jeep had different ideas nearly two decades ago.

A Gladiator concept that was unveiled at the 2005 Detroit Auto Show featured a smaller cab than the current truck that was equipped with suicide-style rear half-doors.

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The five-foot eight-inch bed could also be extended by a foot into the cabin through a drop-down midgate, similar to the Chevrolet Avalanche’s.

A small access hatch on the driver’s side rear door allowed for loading cargo without having to open both of the clamshell doors, and a storage drawer was installed below its fender-mounted spare.

One more thing the Gladiator concept had that the 2024 truck doesn’t is a diesel engine. The Gladiator used to have one, but Jeep discontinued it with the 2023 model year truck and offered a limited edition Rubicon FarOut trim as a send-off.

Unlike the production Gladiator’s 3.0-liter turbodiesel V6, which is rated at 260 hp and 442 lb-ft, the concept had a 2.8-liter turbocharged four-cylinder that sent 163 hp and 295 lb-ft to the wheels through a six-speed manual transmission.

And while the Gladiator concept never quite came to fruition as presented, Jeep in 2011 launched a Mopar kit that could be used to convert a four-door Wrangler Unlimited into a two-door “JK-8” pickup.

That’s not to say Jeep has completely given up on the idea of a smaller pickup. It brought a Scrambler 392 pickup concept to this year’s Easter Jeep Safari that’s based on the four-door Wrangler Rubicon 392.

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