This Is the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT With Independent Front Suspension, Reversible Jump Seats, and a V8

SEMA is off and running, and the first surprise just hit. The Jeep Scrambler SRT just showed its face.

On Monday in Las Vegas, Tim Kuniskis, the Father of the Hellcats, unveiled the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT Concept. You can drop the concept name, because this thing is coming to production, and it brings with it long travel suspension paired with independent front suspension, huge tires, rear-facing jump seats, and two doors. Sound familiar?

In May, Kuniskis showed myself and a handful of other journalists the Jeep Wrangler Scrambler SRT, which is set to be one of the headliners for Stellantis’ huge turnaround plan that includes 60 new vehicles and 50 refreshes by 2030. No photos were allowed, but the truck you are looking at is what I saw, though the one I saw might’ve been sporting a 3D-printed body at the time. We had seconds to look at it then.

The highlights: The “concept” features 15 inches of travel in the rear, 14 inches of travel in the front, and repeat it with me, independent front suspension. The shocks are Fox 2.5-inch units at all four corners, but specifics are limited at the moment.

“This is mission specific,” Kuniskis said before noting,”This will go through high-speed desert whoops better than any solid axle ever could,” to the crowd at SEMA.

That front suspension was developed with the help of off-road racing champion Casey Currie. It’s actually been tested and hiding in plain sight. It was first shown in the Jeep Striker Concept in March and then put into action for validation in Currie’s custom Gladiator “Striker,” which won a class victory in the NORA 500.

Jeep pointed out in the announcement that the independent front will enhance stability, steering precision, and wheel control for high-speed off-road driving. All weak points of the Wrangler with its solid front axle and ancient steering system.

The rear jump seats are 180-degree reversible and removable. Kuniskis told The Drive exclusively, “You can then fold that seat backwards flat and it makes a bed floor like a truck.” Those seats clip into floor-mounted hooks.

Kuniskis described the Scrambler as “freaking cool.” The man isn’t wrong.

While not shown at SEMA, Kuniskis told The Drive, “But the back—I’ll call it the back cap, if you will—if you were thinking about a pickup truck, you know, the camper cap—the cap can then come off like an old K5 Blazer. That can come off and you have the seats in the back that sit at the normal position of the front seats. So while you’re in the thing—while you’re in the vehicle—it almost seems like you’re in a four-door Wrangler.”

Kuniskis told The Drive the Scrambler “a Swiss Army Knife” of trucks.

The entire thing is based upon the Wrangler chassis, which means it could be built at the Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio alongside the Wrangler and Gladiator. That’s also quite possibly the home of the upcoming Ram Dakota, which will share its underpinnings with the Gladiator, though maybe it will now have independent front suspension?

The front of the Scrambler SRT features a sharknose design from the Gladiator and Jeep’s past. The concept rides on beadlock wheels and 37-inch off-road mud-terrain tires from BFGoodrich.

Under the hood sits a 6.4-liter Hemi V8 rated at 470-horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque. Sorry fam, there’s no Hellcat motor here right now.

Jeep’s given no timeline or price for the Scrambler SRT, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will cost more than $65,000 and should arrive before 2030.

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