The Wrangler is an off-road vehicle produced by American automaker Chrysler under its Jeep marque. It is a successor to the famous World War II 'Jeep' vehicle by way of the Willys Universal Jeep (CJ) in the 1950s, later produced by Kaiser-Jeep and AMC.
The Wrangler debuted in 1987, was updated in 1997 and again in 2007, and is still popular today.
From 1987 until 1992 the Wrangler/YJ was built in Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Today the Wrangler is produced at Jeep's Toledo North Assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio.
The Wrangler Rubicon (named for the Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) was introduced in 2003. It featured front and rear Dana 44 axles with built-in air-actuated locking differentials, 4:1 low-range NV241 transfer case, 4.10:1 differential gears, 16 in alloy wheels, and Goodyear MTR P245/75-R16 tires. 2003 to 2004 featured a standard NV3500 five-speed manual transmission, which changed in 2005 to a Mercedes-sourced six-speed.
The optional 42RLE four-speed automatic transmission was available from 2003 to 2006.