Jeep made a lot of people pleased when it validated that the next-generation Wrangler would continue to be integrated in Toledo, OH. Currently, news is breaking about the lengths the automaker will go to in upgrading its northern Ohio factory. There excellent news for Jeep dealerships (more Wranglers to sell!), Jeep fans (more JKs to purchase!), and Jeep itself (more money to be made!).
According to a report, capacity at the factory will be increased to 350,000 units each year. That’s around a 50 percent boost over what the Toledo complex can currently manage and is, as per Jeep boss Mike Manley, part of a move to keep production “at the right place” so that “supply [stays] simply just demand.”
The other big news unveiled by the AN report focuses on the future of the current Wrangler. Yes, the current JK has a future. It’ll remain to be built at the Toledo factory up to six months after it follower arrives in display rooms, a move that’s partly down to the way Jeep is shuffling manufacturing about.
Toledo currently constructs the Cherokee on a unibody assembly line– it’ll remain to do so up until March of 2017, when production will move to Belvidere, IL. The unibody line in Toledo will then be converted for body-on-frame production, which ought to take about 6 months. Throughout that time, the present JK (most likely rebadged as a “Wrangler Classic”) will continue to be constructed together with another line of next-generation Wranglers, keeping dealerships supplied with the present Wrangler through March of 2018. The two Wranglers will overlap for about 6 months.
