Jeep

Jeep was founded in 1941; however it did not begin life as the Jeep. Rather it was a prototype for the Army by American Bantam (the Austin Car Corp) called the Bantam BRC. It competed with other prototypes, such as the ones built by Ford and by Willys Overland. The Bantam won in respects to how the vehicle worked, but the engine did not meet specs. The army also felt that the bantam was too small of a company, and they just plain didn’t like them. Willys was also crossed out of the mix, as the Army felt that they were too small as well, and because they had just one plant, although Willys did win the contract. Well, because they were small and such, the Military had Ford build the Willys Jeep too, and that supplied the military with all it needed. During World War Two over six hundred thousand jeeps were manufactured, and it found uses in almost everything, from supplies to troop transport, to even water crossing.

The Jeep was then copied around the world under license, and some without licenses, and many versions were made. There were railroad jeeps that ran on tracks and water jeeps that were more boat than jeep – and as part of the world war two alliances and efforts they were also given to the Red Army. Recently the Jeep has been replaced by the Mutt and the Humvee.

Willys was acquired by Chrysler and thus, holds the brand name to the Jeep, and is the legal owner of all designs and patents regarding it, however Chrysler was not the first one to acquire it right away, oh no – there were many others. Willys Jeep went to Kaiser, which went to AMC, which went to Renault for a shirt bit, and finally Chrysler – but then Chrysler went to Daimler, and Daimler then sold Chrysler – and so after all of this, it remains as Chrysler’s. Currently

Jeep manufactures six major lines, and a few sub-lines. The Jeep Wranglers is their all around truck, the Jeep Grand Cherokee is their huge SUV line (and has five sub styles to chose from) the Jeep Liberty is their smaller SUV, the Jeep Commander is their newest SUV with a seven person capacity, the Jeep Compass is a crossover SUV that is designed around and based on the Dodge Caliber, and finally the Jeep Patriot, their other small SUV based on that Dodge vehicle.