. for the original world war ii jeep see willys mb . for other uses see jeep disambiguation . jeep type division industry automotive founded 1941 1 headquarters toledo ohio us area served worldwide key people michael manley ceo of jeep division sergio marchionne ceo of fca us llc products sport utility vehicles owner fiat chrysler automobiles parent chrysler website www.jeep.com en 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 . 2 3 the former chrysler corporation acquired the jeep brand along with the remaining assets of its owner american motors in 1987 . the division is headquartered in toledo ohio . 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 original jeep was the prototype bantam brc . willys mb jeeps went into production in 1941 1 specifically for the military arguably making them the oldest four wheel drive mass production vehicles now known as suvs . 4 the jeep became the primary light 4 wheel drive vehicle of the united states army and the allies during world war ii as well as the postwar period . the term became common worldwide in the wake of the war . doug stewart notes 5 the spartan cramped and unstintingly functional jeep became the ubiquitous world war ii four wheeled personification of yankee ingenuity and cocky can do determination . the first civilian models were produced in 1945 . 6 it inspired a number of other light utility vehicles such as the land rover . 7 8 many jeep variants serving similar military and civilian roles have since been designed in other nations . contents 1 development 1.1 bantam reconnaissance car 1.2 willys ma and ford gp 2 origin of the name 3 world war ii jeeps 4 post war military jeeps 4.1 the cj v35 u 4.2 the m715 5 the jeep brand 6 off road abilities 7 ownership 8 jeep model list 8.1 historical and military models 8.2 jeep forward control jeep jeepster & jeep fj 8.3 jeep cj 8.4 jeep dj 8.5 jeep sj 8.6 jeep cherokee xj 8.7 jeep comanche 8.8 jeep wrangler 8.9 zj wj and wk models 8.10 xk models 8.11 kj models 8.12 current models 9 future models 9.1 concept vehicles 10 jeeps around the world 11 jeep apparel and sponsorships 12 see also 13 references 14 external links development bantam brc 40 ford pygmy dashboard of world war ii era jeep . jeep with 50 cal . browning machine gun bantam reconnaissance car when it became obvious that the united states was eventually going to become involved in the war raging in europe the u.s. army contacted 135 companies asking for working prototypes of a four wheel drive reconnaissance car . only two companies responded to the request american bantam car company and willys overland . the army had set what seemed like an impossible deadline of 49 days to supply a working prototype . willys asked for more time but was refused . the bankrupt american bantam car company had no engineering staff left on the payroll and solicited karl probst a talented freelance designer from detroit . after turning down bantam s initial request probst responded to an army request and commenced work initially without salary on july 17 1940 . probst laid out full plans for the bantam prototype known as the brc or bantam reconnaissance car in just two days working up a cost estimate the next . bantam s bid was submitted complete with blueprints on july 22 . 9 while much of the vehicle could be assembled from off the shelf automotive parts custom four wheel drivetrain components were to be supplied by spicer . the hand built prototype was completed in butler pennsylvania 10 and driven to camp holabird maryland for army testing september 21 . the vehicle met all the army s criteria except engine torque . willys ma and ford gp the army felt that the bantam company was too small to supply the number of vehicles it needed so it supplied the bantam design to willys and ford who were encouraged to make their own changes and modifications . the resulting ford pygmy and willys quad prototypes looked very similar to the bantam brc prototype and spicer supplied very similar four wheel drivetrain components to all three manufacturers . 11 fifteen hundred of each of the three models bantam brc 40 ford gp and willys ma were built and extensively field tested . delmar barney roos willys overland s chief engineer made design changes to meet a revised weight specification a maximum of 1 275 lb 578 kg 12 including oil and water . he was thus able to use the powerful but comparatively heavy willys go devil engine and win the initial production contract . the willys version of the car would become the standardized jeep design designated the model mb and was built at their plant in toledo ohio . the familiar pressed metal jeep grille was actually a ford design feature and incorporated in the final design by the army . since the war department required a large number of vehicles to be manufactured in a relatively short time willys overland granted the united states government a non exclusive license to allow another company to manufacture vehicles using willys specifications . the army chose ford as the second supplier building jeeps to the willys design . willys supplied ford with a complete set of plans and specifications . american bantam the creators of the first jeep built approximately 2700 of them to the brc 40 design but then spent the rest of the war building heavy duty trailers for the army . origin of the name many explanations of the origin of the word jeep have proven difficult to verify . the most widely held theory is that the military designation gp for government purposes or general purpose was slurred into the word jeep in the same way that the contemporary hmmwv for high mobility multi purpose wheeled vehicle has become known as the humvee . joe frazer willys overland president from 1939 to 1944 claimed to have coined the word jeep by slurring the initials g.p. 13 there are no contemporaneous uses of gp before later attempts to create a backronym . a more detailed view popularized by r. lee ermey on his television series mail call disputes this slurred gp origin saying that the vehicle was designed for specific duties and was never referred to as general purpose and it is highly unlikely that the average jeep driving gi would have been familiar with this designation . the ford gpw abbreviation actually meant g for government use p to designate its 80 inch 2 000 mm wheelbase and w to indicate its willys overland designed engine . ermey suggests that soldiers at the time were so impressed with the new vehicles that they informally named it after eugene the jeep a character in the popeye comic strip and cartoons created by e. c. segar as early as mid march 1936 . eugene the jeep was popeye s jungle pet and was small able to move between dimensions and could solve seemingly impossible problems . 14 15 the word jeep however was used as early as 1914 by us army mechanics assigned to test new vehicles . in 1937 tractors which were supplied by minneapolis moline to the us army were called jeeps . a precursor of the boeing b 17 flying fortress was also referred to as the jeep . 13 words of the fighting forces by clinton a. sanders a dictionary of military slang published in 1942 in the library at the pentagon gives this definition jeep a four wheel drive vehicle of one half to one and one half ton capacity for reconnaissance or other army duty . a term applied to the bantam cars and occasionally to other motor vehicles u.s.a. in the air corps the link trainer ; in the armored forces the ton command vehicle . also referred to as any small plane helicopter or gadget . citation needed this definition is supported by the use of the term jeep carrier to refer to the navy s small escort carriers . early in 1941 willys overland demonstrated the vehicle s off road capability by having it drive up the steps of the united states capitol driven by willys test driver irving red haussman who had recently heard soldiers at fort holabird calling it a jeep . when asked by syndicated columnist katharine hillyer for the washington daily news or by a bystander according to another account what it was called irving answered it s a jeep . katharine hillyer s article was published nationally on february 19 1941 and included a picture of the vehicle with the caption lawmakers take a ride with senator meade of new york at the wheel and representative thomas of new jersey sitting beside him one of the army s new scout cars known as jeeps or quads climbs up the capitol steps in a demonstration yesterday . soldiers in the rear seat for gunners were unperturbed . although the term was also military slang for vehicles that were untried or untested this exposure caused all other jeep references to fade leaving the 4x4 with the name . the original trademark brand name application was filed in february 1943 by willys overland . 16 it is also used as a generic term as the lowercase jeep for vehicles inspired by the jeep that are suitable for use on rough terrain . 17 world war ii jeeps 1943 willys jeep final production version jeeps built by willys overland were the model mb while those built by ford were the model gpw g government vehicle p designated the 80 wheelbase and w the willys engine design . there were subtle differences between the two . 18 the versions produced by ford had every component including bolt heads marked with an f . willys also followed the ford pattern by stamping its name into some body parts but stopped this in 1942 . 19 the cost per vehicle trended upwards as the war continued from the price under the first contract from willys at us 648.74 ford s was 782.59 per unit . 20 willys overland and ford under the direction of charles e. sorensen vice president of ford during world war ii produced about 640 000 jeeps towards the war effort which accounted for approximately 18 % of all the wheeled military vehicles built in the u.s. during the war . 21 22 23 jeeps were used by every service of the u.s. military . an average of 145 were supplied to every army infantry regiment . jeeps were used for many purposes including cable laying saw milling as firefighting pumpers field ambulances tractors and with suitable wheels would even run on railway tracks . an amphibious jeep the model gpa or seep sea jeep was built for ford in modest numbers but it could not be considered a huge success it was neither a good off road vehicle nor a good boat . as part of the war effort nearly 30 % of all jeep production was supplied to great britain and to the soviet red army . post war military jeeps the jeep has been widely imitated around the world including in france by delahaye and by hotchkiss et cie after 1954 hotchkiss manufactured jeeps under license from willys and in japan by mitsubishi motors and toyota . the utilitarian good looks of the original jeep have been hailed by industrial designers and museum curators alike . the museum of modern art described the jeep as a masterpiece of functionalist design and has periodically exhibited the jeep as part of its collection