Jeep Phoned In The Easter Jeep Safari Concepts This Year. Here’s Why I’m OK With It

The Easter Jeep Safari concepts are an annual tradition from my former employer, Chrysler (now called Stellantis). The company does not have to build wacky custom Jeeps every year, but it does anyway, and for that I am immensely grateful. That said, relative to years past, this year’s concepts were phoned in; there’s just no other way to put it.

My headline would technically be better if I ditched the “Here’s why I’m Okay With It” ending, but I’d be an ungrateful swine if I just ragged on some concept cars that Jeep makes for our enjoyment (and for marketing, of course). Come on: Nobody needs to spend millions on half a dozen fun concept cars that journalists get to drive at the Easter Jeep Safari — an event Jeep shows up to year in and year out despite all the costs associated with flying out employees, housing those employees, shipping vehicles, renting space in the hardware store parking lot for a big display, feeding and sometimes housing journalists, and on and on. [Update: And to make it abundantly clear, this is not something that a company that’s recently been cutting employees needs to spend money on. -DT].

With that out of the way, I’m going to call a spade a spade. This year’s concepts are mid. Boring. Wack. Whatever term you want to use. Let’s have a look:

For one, there are only four concepts, which is fewer than anytime I can remember. There’s the Willys Dispatcher Concept, the Gladiator Rubicon High Top Concept, the Vacationeer Concept, and the Low Down Concept, none of which is all that remarkable. Usually there’s at least one model that’s badass and worthy of a poster, but this year there are just a couple that are somewhat cool.

Let’s start with the somewhat cool ones.

The Dispatcher concept is somewhat cool because it’s got half doors and steelies, both of which look fantastic. Plus, the Willys embossment on the hood is fun, as is the green color, especially with the black windshield frame, which used to be how old Willys Jeeps came from the factory (painted body, black windshield frame).

The interior looks OK. There are some custom seats, a custom center console lid, and a custom dash trim insert. The powertrain is the 2.0-liter engine in plug-in hybrid configuration (it’s a 4xe underneath).

Also somewhat cool is the Vacationeer concept, which is based on a Jeep Grand Wagoneer. It’s got a lift, some big tires on special wheels, a roof tent, a winch, and a cool looking interior:

The other two concepts — the Gladiator Rubicon High Top and the Lowdown — are basically a beefed-up Gladiator 3.6 and a beefed-up four-door Jeep Wrangler 392, both with half doors and humongous 40+-inch tires.

 

I will say, I dig the Low Down’s transparent hood:

But that’s it. Yes, for 2024, the Easter Jeep Safari concepts are a beefed-up four-door Wranger, a beefed-up Gladiator, a Green lifted Grand Wagoneer with a plaid interior, and a Green Wrangler with steel wheels and a brown leather cabin.

I’m grateful — again — because Jeep doesn’t have to do this, but the fact that the brand phoned in 2024’s concepts is pretty much irrefutable. I mean, look at the 2023 EJS concepts:

First, let’s get to the elephant in the room — 2023’s Grand Wagoneer Overland Concept looks a hell of a lot like the “new” Vacationeer, doesn’t it?:

So really, it appears that Jeep has 3.5 new concepts for 2024. Yikes. What’s the cause of this? The French imposing strict budget cuts? (I’ve heard whispers of this from former colleagues). Or is it the fact that the real brains behind the whole EJS operation — Mark Allen — retired last year? Yeah, probably both.

Anyway, to drive home how boring this year’s concepts are, let’s show off some Mark Allen-era EJS concepts, shall we? In addition to the Grand Wagoneer that seems to have been recycled, there was this incredible Jeep Cherokee 4xe concept:

And there was the Scrambler 392 Concept:

And there was another Magneto, a version of which we’d seen before, but still:

Let’s go back to 2022, because look at these seven machines:

I won’t lie: The 2022 concepts weren’t amazing, but at least there were seven of them, and there was a nice army-green half-door-equipped four-door with steelies. The new Dispatcher honestly isn’t that different:

Let’s go back to 2021:

In ’21, there were six concept Jeeps, with one being the first iteration of the Magneto:

And there was this incredible Jeepster Beach concept:

It’s an updated 1968 C101 Jeepster Commando grafted onto a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon frame, with a 2.0-liter Hurricane turbocharged inline-four under the hood. It’s awesome.

Let’s step back to 2019 (the Easter Jeep Safari did not take place in 2020 due to the pandemic):

There were six concepts, and I really don’t have to say anything else other than this:

Holy shit the Five-Quarter was easily one of the best Jeep concepts ever. Just wow.

But that wasn’t the only stand-out for 2019; the J6 regular-cab short-bed was also thoroughly legit.

Let’s go back to 2018:

There were six concepts, including the incredible Wagoneer Road Trip:

And there was the 4SPEED:

Let’s step back to 2017, one of the greatest years for EJS concepts:

Just look at the hotrodi-ish Quicksand concept:

And check out the CJ66!:

Don’t forget the weird doors and roof on the Jeep Safari Concept:

Even the Switchback at least had some weird doors:

But the king of 2017, and one of the greatest EJS concepts ever (I say “one of” because we’re getting to the absolute #1 concept here in a bit) is the Grand One Concept, based on the first-gen “ZJ” Jeep Grand Cherokee:

Ok, let’s keep going. Here’s 2016:

Check out that Renegade pickup!

The Trailcat is a 707 horsepower….um, something:

Look at how absurdly badass the Crew Chief 715 Concept is:

And how about that Shortcut Concept?:

Hell, Jeep even brought an old FC-150 out to Moab:

Here’s 2015:

The Staff Car is one of my favorite mostly-Just-A-Jeep-Wrangler concepts:

The two-door Jeep Chief is pretty sweet with its Jeep SJ-inspired “Razor Grille”:

I even kinda dig the Jeep Wrangler Africa — a stretched, high-top four-door Wrangler with extra cargo room for overlanding:

Here’s 2014:

I won’t lie to you: 2014 was pretty mid. Jeep was celebrating its new Jeep Cherokee KL, so there are some KL concepts. There are some Wrangler-based ones, and a Grand Cherokee. It was a bit uninspired, I’ll admit, but at least there were six cars.

Now let’s check out 2013:

Come on, you can’t tell me that the 3,000 pound lightweight “Stitch” concept isn’t awesome:

But the reason why this article is so damn long is that I wanted to get back to 2012, when Jeep debuted the greatest Jeep Concept vehicle in history:

Am I talking about the red J-12 Concept? No, though that thing is awesome:

No, in the pantheon of Jeep Concept Greatness, there stands one Jeep at the pinnacle, far above the rest:

The Jeep Mighty FC Concept.

It’s absolutely perfect. Here, allow the man behind it, the recently-retired Mark Allen, to tell you all about it:

Mark Allen, former head of Jeep design, is far more than just a former employee of Chrysler, he is a true Jeep diehard. He attends Jeep events for fun, he has encyclopedic knowledge of Jeep history, and overall he’s just an extremely cool guy. He once gave me an AMC 304 out of his AMC Javelin for free. He called me, offered me the engine, gave me his address, and when I stopped by, he hooked that 304 to a chain and dropped it into my pickup truck.

Now he’s gone, and it appears nobody’s picked up the Easter Jeep Safari mantle. Or the French are really tight with cash. Again, I think it’s a bit of both. In any case, I’m okay with the phoned-in 2024 Concept cars because, if we’re being real, these fun vehicles are probably #1 on the budget-cut-choppability index, and I’m just grateful Jeep has been doing them this long. Hopefully next year they come out stronger, or maybe they’ll be gone forever, and we can just remember what a hell of a run this was.

All Images: Jeep