Is This the Demise of the Jeep Gladiator?

It appears $33,545 is a lot to pay for a pickup truck as the 2020 Jeep Gladiator is struggling in sales, according to a report published by Automotive News.

This is surprising considering America’s love for pickup trucks; however, it’s not entirely impossible, especially since the Gladiator does not offer anything customers wouldn’t find in other Jeep models that cost less than $30,000.

To amend the low sales of the Gladiator post-launch, the online publication said Jeep has offered heavy discounts on the model.

The Gladiator is currently up against trucks like the Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger, two models whose base price is at less than $30,000. It was also revealed to be competing against its sibling, the Jeep Wrangler, drawing customers away from it, as confirmed by one dealer who asked not to be named.

“We were selling [Gladiators] until the last couple of months. We were actually selling the high-end stuff, but again, that’s because of the newness of it, and everybody coming out to buy one with all the equipment,” the dealer said. “But let’s call a spade a spade; $30,000 to $45,000 is the range that we should be in.”

With dismal sales hampering the image and performance of the Gladiator on the market, it appears Jeep is going on a different approach. Instead of going head to head with its rivals, the company is trying to challenge the Ranger and Colorado in terms of volume.

Jeffrey Burnett, general manager of a Delaware-based dealership, shared: “At first when we talked about the launch and everything else, they weren’t coming in this place saying we’re going to attack Ranger. They came to this place saying we’re going to have a vehicle unlike anybody else. Now I think they’re going into, ‘You know what? We can attack Ranger; we can attack [the Nissan] Frontier.'”

Sales of the Gladiator peaked at more than 6,000 in October before dipping in November and December, according to estimates from the Automotive News Data Center.