The Jeep Gladiator has been updated for the Australian market, with the company “streamlining” the range by dropping the entry-level Night Eagle, while adding new features to the cheaper Rubicon – now the sole variant available.
However, Jeep Australia has dismissed any possibility of the dual-cab ute receiving a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain for the local market.
“So the 4xe [plug-in hybrid Gladiator] is only available in left-hand-drive, so it’s not available in right-hand-drive markets at this time,” product manager Bridget Thomson told a roundtable of media, including CarExpert.
That means Jeep will go without a direct rival for the BYD Shark 6 PHEV ute, which has proved a runaway success and even overtaken industry stalwarts like the Mitsubishi Triton on the sales charts.
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But when asked whether a V8 version of the Gladiator was bound for Australia, the Jeep spokesperson declined to answer.
CarExpert understands the current-generation Gladiator and its Wrangler sibling are scheduled to continue production until 2028, according to information obtained from company insiders.
Given there are fewer than three years left before production is expected to end for the current Gladiator, it’s highly unlikely new powertrains will be engineered for right-hand-drive markets – particularly given the model’s lacklustre sales performance in recent times.
Jeep has delivered just 257 Gladiator utes in Australia this year to the end of September.
While the company had sold the same number of Gladiators over the same period in 2024 in Australia, it’s less than half of the volume Jeep had managed by the same point in 2023.
Jeep Australia’s response comes just a month after the company confirmed the 6.4-litre Hemi V8 was returning to the Wrangler and Gladiator lineups in North America – but it now appears local buyers will continue to miss out.
Instead, buyers of the updated Gladiator will have to be content with the 3.6-litre Pentastar petrol V6 engine, putting out 209kW and 347Nm, and mated to an eight-speed automatic and a four-wheel drive system.