Jeep’s complete new collection of concept off-roaders at the 2023 Easter Jeep Safari event in Moab revealed.
A fresh collection of off-road concept cars have been revealed by Jeep as part of a showcase of what the brand could offer in years to come.
Shown off at the 57th annual Easter Jeep Safari event in Moab, Utah, the seven one-of-a-kind 4x4s range from restomods to unique creations.
One of the most striking and technically advanced to make an appearance was the Magneto 3.0, a two-seat electric off-roader that “points to the direction of the future of Jeep”, chief designer Mark Allen said.
The “open lab”, which is in its third and final iteration of the 2020 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon-based machine, gets 478kW and 1224Nm from a custom-built compact axial-flux electric motor. A lower-powered 210kW mode can be selected for less raucous driving.
Unique kit includes a 70kWh battery pack and six-speed manual transmission. Neither will make production.
The concept also features brake regeneration modes and “aggressive” hill-descent control to offer true one pedal off-road driving in serious rock-crawling situations.
“It’s a sort of an open laboratory where we’re testing and want to know more about electric,” said Allen.
“It’s really kind of based on my curiosity. I can go by and drive an electric vehicle on the street, but when we started this, there were very, very few or none off-road-focused electric vehicles.”
Since then, Jeep has confirmed the Jeep Recon as its first off-road-focused EV, taking the form of an electric Wrangler.
Other highlights from the Moab event included a reimagined 1978 Jeep Cherokee that has been placed on a Wrangler Rubicon 4xe chassis; and a V8-powered two-seat Scrambler 392 pick-up that has been fettled to cut 204kg from the four-door Wrangler it’s based on.
Jeep also showed off other aspects of its range, including a Grand Wagoneer SWB with a cabin-accessible roof-mounted Redtail Overland Skyloft (which is heated, too).
“Every year, more than 20,000 Jeep enthusiasts descend on Moab for Easter Jeep Safari to drive in the most extreme off-road conditions, where our engineers continue to push the capability of our Jeep vehicles to next levels,” said Jeep boss Jim Morrison.
“It’s the perfect place to showcase our seven new Jeep concepts, because it’s with these Jeep enthusiasts that we’ll be able to push the limits even more and get their feedback on where they want to take the Jeep brand into the future.”