Who Owns Jeep? A Look At The Brand's Storied History & Who Controls It Now

Jeeps have been around since World War II, and U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall called the light troop and gear carrier "America's greatest contribution to modern warfare." Civilian models were marketed to farmers and construction workers after the war, and the Jeep badge lives on today. 75-plus years of adaptation have led to an expanded line that now includes two battery-electric vehicles. The pioneering military Jeeps and the first civilian model, the CJ-2A, were products of Willys Overland. Since the CJ-2A's introduction in 1945 — a debut that coincided with the end of World War II — the Jeep brand has changed hands numerous times, but who owns and makes Jeep vehicles now? 

Jeep is now part of the Stellantis Group, which was formed in 2020 when Fiat Chrysler merged with the Peugeot Group. That put Jeep in a garage with unlikely fellows Peugeot, Citroen, Opel, and DS, and kept it under the FCA umbrella with Fiat, Chrysler, Dodge, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati. The longer look at the history of the Jeep brand, however, notes various custodians.

WIllys held on to Jeep through the early CJ years and until 1953, when it was purchased by Kaiser Manufacturing. Kaiser kept the Willys name for another decade, when it rebranded as Kaiser-Jeep. It was Kaiser that introduced the CJ5 in 1955, and the CJ5's run through 1983 makes it the longest-lasting uninterrupted Jeep model in history. Kaiser built Jeep factories in 30 countries and sold the rugged vehicles in more than 150. A global presence couldn't keep Kaiser going, though, and in 1969 American Motors bought Kaiser and all its holdings. AMC was hardly thriving at the time, and Renault picked up a 25% share of the company in 1978. 

AMC being on shaky financial ground didn't stop it from introducing the XJ Cherokee in 1984, a model that has seen a production run of more than 2.5 million units since and is often credited with ushering in the modern SUV era. AMC still foundered a bit, however, and Chrysler acquired it in 1987. The Jeep brand was the big draw in that $1.5 billion transaction, and the badge helped keep Chrysler viable through its bankruptcy filing in 2009. It was more than a decade later when Stellantis was formed, and Jeep's annual domestic sales of at least three-quarters of a million vehicles from 2015 through 2020 were certainly a large factor in Fiat Chrysler's desirability.

[Featured image by CZMarlin via Wikimedia Commons|Cropped and scaled|Public Domain]