Jeep

Jeep is a brand of American automobiles that is a division of FCA US LLC (formerly Chrysler Group, LLC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. The former Chrysler Corporation acquired the Jeep brand, along with the remaining assets of its owner American Motors, in 1987. Jeep’s current product range consists solely of sport utility vehicles and off-road vehicles, but has also included pickup trucks in the past. The first Willys MB Jeeps were produced in 1941 specifically for the military and arguably making them the oldest four-wheel drive mass-production vehicles now known as SUV, and the first civilian models were produced in 1945. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover. The original Jeep vehicle that first appeared as the prototype Bantam BRC became the primary light 4-wheel-drive vehicle of the United States Army and Allies during World War II, as well as the postwar period. The term was common worldwide in the wake of World War II, as American forces employed engineering solutions to military problems. Doug Stewart notes: The spartan, cramped, and unstintingly functional jeep became the ubiquitous World War II four-wheeled personification of Yankee ingenuity and cocky, can-do determination.” Many Jeep variants serving similar military and civilian roles have since been designed in other nations.