Last week, MoparInsiders.com was the first to debut the first spy photos of a pre-production unit of the Jeep® Wrangler Rubicon 392. Soon after posting the photos, we were flooded with e-mails and messages on social media asking more about the vehicle caught in the photos and if it was a true prototype or if mistaken for someone who altered their personal Jeep. We then went on to answer that with a rebuttal about how Jeep® was disguising the vehicle in plain sight.
Now our spy photographers have confirmed in their latest series of photos, that there is indeed more than one of these Wrangler Rubicon 392 prototypes out testing. According to sources close to MoparInsiders.com, several of these HEMI-powered prototypes have left the production floor at the Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio. These prototypes are near production-specification and are running reliability testing in several places across the country.
The prototypes, just like the concept are fitted with the ZF-based 8HP75 8-speed automatic transmission, full-time Rock-Trac 4×4 system (a new option on the 2021 Wrangler Rubicon), as well as 3.73 gear ratio for improved highway efficiency and a greater range of off-road capability.
While the one vehicle is of the Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited 392 tester that we have already seen features the Wrangler Sky One-touch powertop, this latest copy of the Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 392 is equipped with the black three-piece hardtop. It can clearly be seen featuring the same conceptual custom 17-inch Beadlock wheels as the earlier tester and the concept vehicle.
Of course, on the rear of this latest copy, it also shares a Florida license plate and decals on the rear window to try to hide the vehicle in plain slight. Of course, this time it features different window stickers than the first one we saw. As for the Florida plates, FCA owns a test facility called the Chrysler Florida Evaluation Center, located near Naples, Florida. The facility features two test tracks, one being a two-mile-long, three-lane straightway, and the other being a 1.2-mile road course. The facility is also used by Harley Davidson Motorcycles and sits at the foot of the Everglades. This is how FCA gets its hands on Florida plates for its test vehicles, just as it did for earlier Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody prototypes.
It is just one more thing to help confirm that the Jeep brand is serious about bringing the 6.4-liter HEMI V8 engine to the Wrangler. The concept vehicle was rated at 450 horsepower and 450 lb.-ft. of torque, we expect the production model should be roughly the same.
Considering how close these look to coming off the production line, we expect that Jeep would bring such a vehicle to the market sometime around early 2021. This would be roughly the same time that Ford Motor Company would start production of the all-new Ford Bronco, the Wrangler’s first direct competitor in decades. Stay tuned as we continue to bring you more in-depth Wrangler Rubicon 392 information as it comes available.
