Jeep Gladiator XMT To Compete Against GM Defense ISV For Army Contract
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Jeep recently announced that it is once again partnering with AM General to develop a new light tactical concept vehicle for the military. Dubbed the Jeep Gladiator Extreme Military-Grade Truck, or XMT, the new vehicle concept made its debut at the Annual Meeting and Exposition of the Association of the U.S. Army. The new Jeep Gladiator XMT will compete against the GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle, or ISV, for adoption by the U.S. Army.
AM General is best known for the military Humvee and civilian Hummer, and has a history of collaboration with Jeep that dates back to World War II and the iconic Willys MB. Now, the two companies are pitting their latest military project against the new GM Defense ISV to catch the eye of the Army.
As the name suggests, the Jeep Gladiator XMT is based on the same 2020 Jeep Gladiator midsize pickup currently sold to the public. However, to prep it for the battlefield, the XMT version is stripped down to the bare essentials and boasts a variety of military-grade equipment, with both custom and commercially available parts onboard.
The civilian 2020 Jeep Gladiator
This includes two 4×4 systems, locking differentials, enormous BFGoodrich tires, tow hooks and extensive underbody protection via a series of skid plates. The Jeep also boasts impressive approach, breakover and departure angles, and is offered with both diesel and gas powerplant options.
The GM Defense Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV)
Meanwhile, the GM Defense ISV is built on the same GMT 31XX platform as the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, and is motivated by a 2.8L diesel powerplant producing 186 horsepower and mated to a six-speed automatic transmission. GM Defense has yet to announce a gas engine option at this time.
Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison
Like the Jeep, the GM Defense ISV also uses a number of custom and commercially available parts, including bits developed by Chevy Performance and standard spec plucked from the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison, such as long-travel Multimatic DSSV dampers, front upper control arms, jounce shocks, long-travel rear leaf springs, a steel driveshaft and ball-spline half shafts.
The GM Defense ISV also comes with loads of underbody protection and impressive approach, breakover and departure angles. What’s more, the ISV also appears to offer greater seating capacity than that of the XMT, based on pictures of the two vehicles.
Moving forward, military feedback and interest will determine which of these vehicles will see adoption. Either way, production is slated to ramp up next year.
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Jeep has a long history with AM General. AM General was a Division of AMC, started to specifically produce the Humvee because at the time, AMC was owned by Renault, and the US laws would not allow a foreign owned company to produce US military equipment. Long story short, AM General is VERY related to Jeep, once started and owned by the same parent company and had several Jeep engineers as the heads of the Humvee program. It was originally concepted in it’s early life to be Jeep related, before the AM General division existed. This is why Humvees have 7 Slot grills, and Chrysler tried unsuccessfully to sue them in the mid 2000s for trademark infringement.
Thanks for the back story Jonny.
Why won’t Chrysler just buy amc back?
Does the Defense department still have the policy of not buying from foreign owned companys? If so the Chrysler’s owenership of AM General would prevent them from selling to the Military.
Let’s get the story straight. AM General was the General Products Div. of Kaiser Jeep Corp. When AMC acquired Jeep, the General Products Div was spun off as AM General a wholly owned Corp of AMC. AMC divested AM General to LTV because of the Renualt deal. Currently AM General is an American Enterprise without foreign ownership. FCA Jeep deal would have Am General as the contractor selling Jeep’s to the US Government. There is always away to skin a cat
Good point, as if the scenario were turned around I don’t believe Italy would approve an American brand vehicle.
At what point do we no longer consider Chrysler Jeep) an American company?
How many acronyms or hyphens do we need?
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