Jeep Trailhawk Evolved From New Wranglers

DETROIT – Trevor Creed thinks big, and that’s how the Jeep Trailhawk concept SUV came to be.

“When we were doing concept-car sketching, the designers would come up with alternative Jeeps,” says Creed, Chrysler Group’s senior vice president-design, adding the sketches depicted 2-door vehicles resembling the new ’07 Wrangler.

“I said, ‘We’ve just introduced the Wrangler, so I don’t want to be doing that at this stage. I want to be looking at completely different shapes on an existing Jeep. How about we look at the 4-door (Unlimited) platform?’ So we came up with the Trailhawk concept.”

Unveiled today at the North American International Auto show here, Chrysler describes the concept vehicle as an amalgam of the Wrangler Unlimited’s ruggedness and the Jeep Grand Cherokee’s refinement.

With its 116-in. (294-cm) wheelbase, which is identical to the Unlimited, the rigid Trailhawk can easily run with its progenitor.

“It has all the off-road capability of an Unlimited, in terms of approach angles, etc.,” Creed tells Ward’s.

Trailhawk features Jeep design cues, such as trapezoidal wheel flares found on '07 Wranglers.

The Tailhawk is powered by the same 3.0L V-6 diesel engine that debuts in the ’07 Grand Cherokee, generating 215 hp at 4,000 rpm and peak torque of 376 lb.-ft. (510 Nm) between 1,600 and 2,800 rpm.

But the Trailhawk’s mill features emissions-reducing Bluetec technology developed by Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler Group’s sister brand within DaimlerChrysler AG.

The Tailhawk’s exterior is unmistakably Jeep, with design cues such as trapezoidal wheel flares.

“The flares are stretched and pulled taut at one end,” Nick Vardis, principal exterior designer, says. “Each presents a ‘long side’ angled toward the center of the body.”

A chamfered molding encircles the greenhouse, highlighting the vehicle’s high, arching beltline.

Advanced electronics allow for a storage space behind Trailhawk's center stack.

The side windows retract fully, leaving no B-pillar; when all Trailhawk’s windows are down, occupants are treated to the same open-air experience as Jeep’s trademark softop models, Chrysler says.

“One of the most remarkable things about the interior is that it was designed and surfaced entirely electronically,” Cliff Wilkins, Trailhawk’s interior designer, says, adding, “There were no traditional sketches or 3-D models.” The result, he says, is “just as we had envisioned.”

The Tailhawk’s leather seating is finished in bark black and “firewood orange.” Utility also is a prime feature of the interior. The rear features Chrysler’s Load ’n Go slide-out cargo floor that debuted on the ’07 Dodge Nitro.

The center stack takes advantage of the latest packaging advancements in electronics. As a result, the stack-mounted control panel is less than an inch (2.5 cm) thick, enabling Chrysler to create additional storage space behind a flip-down console.

“Usually, that’s a space that is wasted,” Creed says.

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