The Jeep Gladiator is like no other vehicle on the road. It combines unstoppable Wrangler off-road capabilities with a functional pickup truck bed. It embodies the work-hard, play-hard ethos of every pickup truck commercial better than any other truck you can buy. But not enough people are buying them.
So, Jeep has launched discounts of the kind we haven’t seen since pre-pandemic days. A handful of Gladiator pickups have appeared on dealer websites with discounts up to $20,000.
Related: The 10 Best Truck Deals in September, 2023
The 2023 Gladiator starts at $38,775 and stretches into the low $60,000 range fully equipped. Jeep also charges a mandatory $1,895 freight fee – one of the industry’s highest – on every Gladiator.
Deal Combines Manufacturer, Dealer Discounts
But, Jeep is offering 10% off the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) through October 2 for its Adventure Days event. That deal is higher in some states – the Jeep website shows that California residents get 15% off.
Some dealers are tacking offers on top of the manufacturer discount. Cars Direct found a dealership in West Covina, California, offering dealer discounts of over $12,000 on some models. The Drive reports that the same dealership has since been “inundated with offers, so you’re better off trying your luck elsewhere at this point.”
But they’re not alone. Autoblog reports, “Koons Tyson CDJR [Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram] in Virginia has plenty of discounted Gladiators, two Willys 4×4 models each with discounts of more than $12,000. Park Chrysler Jeep in Burnsville, Minnesota lists a brace of Gladiator Rubicons with more than $14,000 each on their hoods.”
New Model Coming, Old Model Discounted
Why the hefty dealer discounts? Because these are 2023 models, an updated 2024 Gladiator is on the way. Dealers often accept lower offers to clear out older models to make room on the lot for a new one Americans see in advertisements.
Some Old Rules of Car Shopping Making a Comeback
But there’s a lesson here for car shoppers, even if you aren’t in the limited club of people who want a pickup with removable doors.
That logic – that the old model gets cheap when the new model arrives – ruled car sales for decades before the shortages of the last two years changed the rules of negotiating for a new car. As car dealer inventory has started to rebuild, the logic is returning.
The Gladiator is one of a handful of models autoworkers aren’t building right now. The United Auto Workers union has shut down the Toledo, Ohio, plant that builds the truck as part of an ongoing strike. But some dealers still have more of Gladiator models than they can handle.
If you’re in the market for a new car, fall will likely see some strange pricing trends as the strike situation evolves. But careful research can now turn up deeply discounted cars in a way it hasn’t since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
