With a look into the future, the Jeep designers have created a concept vehicle that challenges the way we currently view the brand.
With a look into the future, the Jeep designers have created a concept vehicle that challenges the way we currently view the brand.
Due to be unveiled at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show, the Jeep Treo takes a fresh look at the existing, classic Jeep design with its seven-bar grille and prominent windscreens, and combines it with the innovative design targeted at young consumers.
Designed as an activity vehicle, the environmentally-friendly Treo provides space for three passengers, or “two-plus-gear” in cabin that still feels roomy in a very compact vehicle. The lightweight rear seat is able to fold flat for additional storage space.
With Jeep vision of the car 10 years into the future, the steering wheel and column, pedals, speedometer and other instruments are housed in a single module that can easily be adapted from right- to left hand drive with a quick switch, extending the Treo’s expected reach into world markets.
The radio, global positioning satellite locator and climate controls with touch-screen operation are all housed in a second, removable module.
“The Treo is a vivid new interpretation of where the Jeep brand could go in the future using the freedom of fuel cell technology. It truly exemplifies the idea of ‘fluid imagination’ thinking in an unexpected package,” said Trevor Creed, Chrysler Group’s senior vice president of design.
“Jeep Treo has a form and a presence that challenge the brand’s traditional dimensions, but in the end, can still be viewed as being authentically Jeep.”
The signature Jeep ruggedness is signalled by bold open fenders that give the over-sized tyres plenty of play, tow hooks exposed on the front end, and the ‘precision tool’ look of the headlamps and mirrors. The Treo is powered by two electric motors driving the front and rear wheels, giving the vehicle full-time four-wheel drive capability.
“The Treo’s look is rugged and purposeful – a truly imaginative evolution of the Jeep ‘face’ with packaging that belies its compact dimensions,” said Creed. “It has a real presence in the flesh, one that grows more interesting every time you look at it – from every angle.”