2023 Jeep Gladiators are on sale again as the company tries to sell off the remaining off-road trucks, four months into 2024. The web site text talks of a 13% discount, while the site description, used by search engines and social media, refers to 15%—which is what Jeep was providing in February.
The Gladiator was originally conceived as a specialty vehicle, with sales estimates of—based on one insider’s statements made long before it was officially announced—40,000 to 50,000 sales per year, globally. The truck was much more successful than this; Jeep both raised prices and ramped up production, but was slow to reverse these changes, and as a result there is something of a glut on some dealer lots. Buyers have been talking about getting far steeper discounts than the 13% officially advertised on Jeep’s web site, but each dealership has a different situation; some may stick to the list price ($34,469 plus destination and up), and others may be far more generous.
A similar situation arose with the PT Cruiser; it was meant to be a niche vehicle, and likely could have gone on for many years with no changes at all, generating good profits. DaimlerChrysler chose to increase the price and cut the cost while more than doubling production, and its value fell to the point that people forgot it had been an outstanding success before then.
The current overstock is not a good indicator of the Gladiator’s success or future worth; it overcame just about all estimates of its potential popularity, with over 77,000 sales in the United States alone during 2022, and over 55,000 sales in 2023. Both are likely more than Jeep expected, given the Gladiator’s niche status as a truly off-road capable compact pickup sold in a single body configuration.
