New Jeep

There are very few brands where the whole genre of product has become known as; don't buy Cola, buy a Coke; don't buy a vacuum cleaner, buy a Hoover. don't buy an off roader, buy a Jeep. So here it is, a car where a whole market sector is named. Jeep was first designed and manufactured by Willys-Overland in 1941 as a General Purpose (hence GP, or "Jeep") go-anywhere off-road vehicle. Contrary to popular belief, the name Jeep was used on any form of functional transport that had no apparent brand name, and was used to describe rookie soldiers during the First War. The first "Jeeps" were produced by a collaboration between Ford and Willys-Overland. When Willys was sold to the Kaiser company in 1953, the Kaiser-Jeep company was formed. Then American Motors Corporation bought the struggling Jeep division in 1970 and Chrysler bought out Jeep in 1987 which was itself partnered with Daimler-Benz in 1998. Remarkably, Jeep was the first car maker to forge a Chinese joint-venture project, as early as 1984. Its association with Chrysler and Dodge means that its products are sold through multi-brand showroom centres in the UK.