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Jeep is an American automobile brand specializing in crossover/off-road SUVs, introduced in July 1945 by Willys-Overland Motors with the CJ-2A, a "Civilian Jeep" model. Its immediate predecessor, the U.S. Army's ¼‑ton light reconnaissance 4×4 vehicle, was developed during WWII by several competing bidders, ultimately forced by the War Department to collaborate; thus, wartime "Jeeps" were… Read more
manufactured in two nearly identical variants: Willys-Overland's Willys MB and Ford GPW by Ford Motor Co. — both based on the early prototype by the American Bantam Company. Willys strategically filed a trademark application for "Jeep" as early as February 1943, when the war's ultimate outcome was still far from certain, and ran nationwide advertising campaigns non-stop since 1942, parading Willys Jeep's frontline victories; in May 1943, the company even received a formal FTC complaint, as other wartime Jeep contributors began raising objections. Nevertheless, Willys-Overland persevered and became the sole automaker to keep producing Jeeps post-WWII; in June 1950, the "Jeep" trademark was officially registered. The exact name origins of "Jeep" are still disputed; it's typically explained as onomatopoeia for GP (General Purpose), or WWI-era military slang for new, greenhorn recruits; a few scholars mentioned a popular 1930s character in Popeye comic strips, Eugene the Jeep, a "mythical animal of African origin" that only spoke one word: jeep. In a few English-speaking countries, such as Ireland, the word jeep was commodified as a generic term for any 4×4 off-road vehicle; it was directly borrowed and similarly "genericized" in several languages, including French, Italian, Romanian, Swedish, Czech, Portuguese, and Russian. OWNERSHIP TIMELINE 1945–1953: Willys-Overland Motors 1953–1964: Willys Motors 1964–1970: Kaiser Jeep 1970–1987: American Motors Corporation 1987–1998: Chrysler Corporation via Jeep-Eagle 1998–2007: DaimlerChrysler 2007–2009: Chrysler LLC 2009–2014: Chrysler Group LLC — increasingly controlled by Fiat Group Automobiles 2014–2021: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Since 2021: Stellantis N.V. — in the US, via a wholly owned FCA US subsidiary0 releases · 1999–1999
