Cherokee

Make
Jeep
Segment
SUV

The all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler will officially begin production next November at the re-tooled Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, according to a report from The Toledo Blade. But before we get into more of that, let's back things up a bit. First off, this Blade report confirms that production of both the Jeep Patriot and previous generation Compass, two vehicles we honestly never liked, finally ceased on December 23 in Belvidere, Illinois.

The timing makes sense because the Toledo-built Cherokee will move to Belvidere so that Toledo's Jeep plant can shut down for six months in order to adapt the assembly line for the redesigned body-on-frame 2018 Wrangler. Cherokee production in Toledo will continue until early April. The Toledo plant currently builds both the Cherokee and current generation Wrangler, and will continue building the latter "six or seven days a week," according to local UAW president Bruce Baumhower. We already know that Jeep plans to sell the new and old Wrangler (to be dubbed the Wrangler Classic) alongside each other for a transition period.

If all goes to plan, that'll continue until March 2018 when the Toledo Assembly Complex will shut down in order to re-tool for the Wrangler-based pickup. Now, back to the 2018 Wrangler: Although Fiat Chrysler hasn't confirmed it or set an official launch date, Baumhower says that new Wrangler production in Toledo will begin this coming November. If true, we could very well see the official debut of the all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler next week at the Detroit Auto Show, the ideal venue for such a reveal. We'll be on hand at Detroit next week so stay tuned.