Featuring powerful engines, a robust chassis and the top off-road capabilities provided by its advanced all-wheel drive system, the Jeep Gladiator is a commanding presence in the pick-up class. Featuring Trail Rated certification, the Jeep Gladiator confirms its capabilities in every terrain and weather condition.
Always seeking new challenges, the Jeep Gladiator has this time conquered one of the most inhospitable regions on earth, where extreme weather conditions and the absence of roads make it extremely difficult to conquer. In partnership with XDubai, which organises some of the most spectacular extreme sports events in the Middle East, nine people in three Jeep Gladiators faced an extreme 587km route, the #GladiatorRoute. Starting at the southernmost tip of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next to the border with Saudi Arabia, in five days the crews reached the northernmost part of the HAE in Ras Al Khaimah, having crossed some of the most rugged terrain in the Arabian Peninsula, including the Rub' Al Khali desert, and passed through places where wheeled vehicles were first seen. The conditions, in addition to the gruelling heat reaching up to 50 degrees in the shade, included crossing sand dunes and stony mountain ranges impassable even for some of the most capable off-road vehicles.
To meet these challenges, the Jeep Gladiator has built on the key features that come with all versions of the model. A robust chassis, efficient engines (Pentastar V6 3.6lt - 285hp and EcoDiesel V6 3.0lt 260hp), an advanced four-wheel-drive option and robust Dana axles make up an ensemble perfectly capable of handling the extreme conditions of the Middle East. At the same time, given the increased difficulty of the XDubai test, Jeep Performance Parts equipped the mission's Gladiators with an increased ground clearance of 13mm, as well as model-specific FOX shock absorbers. These in particular feature a separate reservoir for the hydraulic fluid, so that it is kept at an ideal temperature no matter how hard the use is and the ambient temperature. At the same time, they have a special function where at the end of their travel they provide a second level of absorption so as to improve vehicle comfort and control when covering rough terrain at high speed. Finally, the vehicles had an additional function in the engine-box management system called Off-Road Plus, which adjusted the performance appropriately for desert routes. Based on the above, the Mission Gladiators are the first Jeep models to achieve Desert Rated certification in addition to Trail Rated certification.
Among the participants in the #GladiatorRoute were Nicholi Rogatkin, World Champion and legendary FMB cyclist, JB O'Neil, Wakeboarder of the Year 2021 and Lynn Jung, best female athlete in the world's largest freerunning event, the "Red Bull Art of Motion".
