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2018 Jeep Wrangler to Retain Body-On-Frame Construction, Aluminum Body Confirmed

When the Blue Oval wowed the world with the aluminum-laden 2015 Ford F-150 pickup truck, other mainstream automakers started to take notes. While previous reports hinted that the new-gen 2018 Jeep Wrangler will go unibody and adopt an aluminum body shell, only the latter has been confirmed.
Jeep Wrangler Facelift 1 photo
Photo: original photo by autoevolution
According to a recent report from AutomotiveNews, "sources inside and outside of Chrysler with direct knowledge of Chrysler's evolving plans" claim that the Jeep brand's halo nameplate is going to shed some pounds thanks to a lot of tough aluminum alloys.

Furthermore, the 2018 Jeep Wrangler will retain its good ol' body-on-frame construction in the detriment of a modern unibody due to all the most obvious of reasons. For the unknowing, the biggest advantage of a body-on-frame over a unibody is that the first offers better off-road capabilities compared to the far more restricting, more road-friendly unibody vehicle architecture.

As an all-round vehicle, the current Wrangler is not really a good choice. Find out why in our review

As things stand now, Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles has just two body-on-frame assembly plants in the U.S. - the Toledo complex where the Jeep Wrangler is manufactured, as well as the Warren Assembly plant in Detroit, which makes the Ram 1500 family of light-duty pickup trucks. However, switching to an aluminum body implies a big investment in the Toledo, Ohio assembly plant.

That's because making an aluminum vehicle is far more difficult than a traditional steel-bodied one. As such, the Toledo plant will see a hefty investment to make it capable of building the 2018 Jeep Wrangler. It's rumored that Chrysler will buy 32 acres of land adjacent to the factory, land that was purchased for a cool $9.4 million by the Toledo city council only recently.
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About the author: Mircea Panait
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After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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