Panel-Hardtop Theory

[Matt The Hammer]

The Bestop hard top/ soft top thing that they are selling now has a fixed back with the windows that you remove. I wonder if the JLs have a back top support frame and you can attach either "hard top" parts to it or fabric. The glass rear window on a soft top.

I figure the engineering done for the TrekTop had to be expensive. Knowing that Bestop makes the Jeep OEM tops - I would think there was some Jeep design there that they started using for the JK tops they sell now.

This would then support the hard panels and still allow it to break down and be stored easier than a classic hard top. Jeep did say something like the traditional soft top was dead with the JL a while ago.

Maybe Jeep squared it off more for the JL rather than the slanted back that the Trektop Pro has for the JK.

Would be a good reason they keep the back parts of either top covered in all spy shots.

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[AVENTUS]

Another user just posted pics that add to my theory. There is a large tarp on top of this Jeep's hard top, meaning they are definitely hiding something. Additionally, the camo is cut in the same seems around the rear window panels. I'm willing to bet the panels on top and on the sides come off to leave behind a cage-like hardtop. It makes the most sense.

I certainly hope us optimists are correct.
If this particular "take it with you stored flat in cargo area" roof and rear window panel idea isn't available, I won't buy until it is. It's really what first made me want to buy a JLU instead of another luxury vehicle.

 

[JeepinOutfitters]

I certainly hope us optimists are correct.
If this particular "take it with you stored flat in cargo area" roof and rear window panel idea isn't available, I won't buy until it is. It's really what first made me want to buy a JLU instead of another luxury vehicle.

I would almost guarantee that what you're describing isn't going to happen. Even if the rear side window panels do come out, the roof section over the back seats and cargo is still going to be a single nearly 5' x 5' section for the 4dr. The only way it could fit in the cargo area is if the top was 6 panels (basically three rows of Freedom top panels). And if that was the case you'd be talking about 8 panels total plus the rear lift glass to try and store in the cargo area. Plus 2x more roof seams to make sure don't leak. The soft top is the take-it-down-and-take-it-with-you top.

 

[Armycop]

My '07 JK Freedom Top leaked badly when I bought it right down on the stereo cover. I had to stuff towels everywhere so my dash didn't get soaked. Hopefully they don't try to make too many pieces, more chances for water to get in. I got to know my service department "leak guy" too well.

 

[AVENTUS]

I would assume there would be fully removable insert panels, which are glass on top, and a thin internal layer (removable from within the cabin), which would reveal the aforementioned glass sunroof panels.

 

[AVENTUS]

I would be pleased to see any/all of the following options:

1. One piece, body color, safari panoramic sunroof hard top:

2. A similar khaki soft top with panoramic vinyl sunroof panel.

3. A 6-piece (or 9 piece of you consider internal opaque panels pieces) removable hard top, which can serve as a clear "safari" top just like the fixed full length panoramic sunroof tops mentioned above^, but with the removable sunroof and rear window panels a perfect size to store flat and take with us in cargo area.

4. A fixed roof unibody Wrangler-lite, with a fixed cage and no roll bar, with removable panels on top and rear sides, which can be brought along in cargo area:

 

[AVENTUS]

have you ever asked yourself why Super Bowl halftime acts, always seem to be artists typical football fans don't like? But ones that demographics which don't watch football do ?


FCA already has the money of the typical Jeep buyer. Reaching out to other segments and demographics, with options most purists feel are "fru fru" is good business sense.

Panoramic roofs are more and more commonplace in all luxury/premium vehicles. And marketing as a "Safari view" I think fits in perfectly with the wranglers' many traditional identities.

 

[AVENTUS]

If everyone recalls, in 2015, it was stated that some trim levels (I assume entry level), may feature fixed roof with removable panels:

This was from 2015:

- Safety bar may be replaced with stronger tubes over top and reduction of lower body reinforcement
- Possible fixed steel roof version
- Traditional soft top will be replaced by removable soft panels over the substructure

 

[ThirtyOne]

have you ever asked yourself why Super Bowl halftime acts, always seem to be artists typical football fans don't like? But ones that demographics which don't watch football do ?


FCA already has the money of the typical Jeep buyer. Reaching out to other segments and demographics, with options most purists feel are "fru fru" is good business sense.

Panoramic roofs are more and more commonplace in all luxury/premium vehicles. And marketing as a "Safari view" I think fits in perfectly with the wranglers' many traditional identities.

Aventus -

I like the perspective you bring with your posts but the Wrangler is a lifestyle vehicle not a luxury vehicle. I would totally expect to see some really upscale features in the Grand Wagoneer and otherwise it will fail. Even the Grand Cherokee is maybe more a premium vehicle than a luxury vehicle. Yes a Wrangler can get expensive but so can a well-optioned truck. I don't think that stretching the Wrangler to the luxury category makes a lot of sense.

 

[The Great Grape Ape]

...the Wrangler is a lifestyle vehicle not a luxury vehicle...

Yes a Wrangler can get expensive but so can a well-optioned truck. I don't think that stretching the Wrangler to the luxury category makes a lot of sense.

Especially when the current Wrangler sells twice as many JK Sports as Sahara and Rubicon combined, and just about as many JKU Sports as Saharas and Rubis combined. The large bulk of their sales are in the lower price range not the premium. Some of those sales are because of a low cost of entry as a child's first vehicle, second family vehicle, a cheap RV tow vehicle, a cheap modifiable vehicle, etc.

If you analyzed what removing the Rubicon would do to that equation, it's highly likely a large number / majority would not move to the second tier priced Sahara, but instead down to the Sport and then upgrade aftermarket, because their reason for being there isn't premium / top trumps , but getting value from all the Rubicon upgrades that would cost nearly as much as after market upgrades but with a warranty.

Pushing to premium goes against the very things that make it popular and successful, and pushes it towards a market where it doesn't compete well in when you still have the trail functional bits like trail soft steering, a solid-axle ride which doesn't convey the sense of 'premium' the way a comfy air-suspension IFS does. The requirements to address that premium market would compromise many things that makes the Wrangler an undeniable success.

Had FCA/Jeep split the Wrangler into 2 separate lines with a Sport-Sahara soft roader with IFS and creatures comforts, and the Willys-Rubicon as the solid-axle off roader, then it would be easier to split the design to cover both markets, but they would need to address it at a platform level, not trim IMO.

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