Jeep® Brazil Could Bring The Gladiator Rubicon To Market In Q2 2022!

The Jeep® brand continues to be on an aggressive push to expand its offerings globally. Behind the United States, Brazil is the American adventure brand’s biggest market. Thanks to the Brazilian-built trio of the Renegade (B1), Compass (M1), and now Commander (H1), Jeep is the leader in all three of the segments that those vehicles are sold in. The Renegade is even the country’s best-selling SUV at the moment.

Over the past year, we have seen a number of Jeep vehicles that aren’t on sale in Brazil, being tested on public roads there. This includes the midsized Jeep Gladiator Rubicon (JT). Two white Rubicon-spec Gladiator pickups were caught together testing by our good friends at Autos Segredos (Auto Secrets), back in September.

According to Motor1 Brazil, Jeep’s goal is to launch the Gladiator in the Q2 of this year, before the new Grand Cherokee (WL) arrives in the second half of 2022.

Currently, the Gladiator’s sibling; the Jeep Wrangler is only offered with the turbocharged 2.0-liter “GME-T4” inline-four-cylinder gasoline engine, an engine that is not available in the Gladiator. Instead, it is likely that Jeep will bring the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 which delivers 285 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque and features engine stop-start (ESS) technology to the market.

The Wrangler offers three trim levels for the Brazilian market (Sahara, Overland, and Rubicon), it is likely the Gladiator would only feature the Rubicon trim at launch, with the Overland arriving sometime later.

The launch of the Gladiator in Brazil could continue to be delayed. Motor1 Brazil’s sources say the reason the Gladiator has yet to arrive in the country is due to high demand in the United States and the ongoing semiconductor shortage.

With the success Stellantis has in the Brazilian pickup market with its FIAT and Ram Truck brands, we can understand why the Gladiator is currently being offered in countries surrounding Brazil, but not the country itself. In Argentina, the Gladiator Rubicon with the Pentastar and 8-speed automatic transmission goes for $11,211,750 ARS (or about $99,000 USD).