Please God, Let Jeep Make These Concept 4x4's

Every year, a bunch of off-road enthusiasts head to Moab to drive around and get dirty with each other at the Easter Jeep Safari. And quite often, Jeep plays to its home crowd and brings along a concept worth checking out.

But this year's different. Jeep is bringing seven concepts to Moab, and they're fantastic. Anyone who questioned the Jeep design team's ability to create stunners has just been proven unequivocally wrong. Granted, these will never be produced, but some of them are so utterly righteous that the corporate types need to take the bean counters and tie 'em up in a shed until a green light is granted.

Staff Car

This is a nod to the original Willys Jeep that started it all. It's a Wrangler, technically, but it's been pretty heavily modified, with some structural elements removed and a fully functional roll cage added. The tires are military spec, and the suspension's up to just about any task. The coolest feature though? There's a built-in cooler that'll hold 85 cans. Of soda. Yes. Soda.

Red Rock Responder

The RRR's more than just an homage to the Red Rock 4-Wheelers club in Moab. It's designed as a Jeep-slash-truck that can get equipment and supplies to stuck comrades. Sure, from some angles it looks kinda like a Jeep and a Hummer had an entertaining night out in the desert, but it's also made from a bunch of parts you can grab right out of the Jeep performance parts catalog.

Wrangler Africa

Officially, this is made to cross Africa; the fuel canisters on the fenders, the roof rack, and the fact that the interior's lined with truck bed coating all attest to that. But c'mon, it's a straight up shot across the bow of the Defender.

Chief

The glorious Wagoneer-esque concept you see above is the perfect answer to the unasked question of, "What if Jeep made a 1970s retro adventure-mobile?" The Wrangler-based interior's equal parts leather and wood, and of course has modern Jeep electronics. Sadly not included: Dashboard hula dancer.

Overlander

The Overlander's a Grand Cherokee with a ton of upgrades and a roof coated in bedliner spray, with a hard-shelled tent mounted to it. Camp vibes are strong with this one.

Desert Hawk

There's some legitimate debate to be had as to how much trouble the Desert Hawk's design team thinks you can get into as there's a topographical map of one of Moab's trails on the hood. Frankly, if you've resorted to reading a map on your hood, no amount of anti-boulder skid plates is gonna help you.

Canyon Trail

This is kind of the upmarket version of the Desert Hawk...so its hood map is of a trial known as Hell's Revenge. There are actually obstacles at Hell's Revenge with names like Tip-Over Challenge and Dump Bump, so it's a potentially great place to test out all the protective armor the Canyon Trail features on the undercarriage.


Aaron Miller is the Rides editor for Supercompressor, and can be found on Twitter. He almost tipped over in a Jeep once as a passenger during some extreme offroading...in suburbia.