Jeep Renegade: What’s Really in a Name These Days?
From the pint-sized Renegade to your favorite special edition Wrangler, it all goes back to a limited-production model from 1971.
The Jeep Renegade is chock full of hidden Easter eggs and historical Jeep references in its design, from a topographical map of Moab, Utah molded into the center console insert to the familiar jerry-can “X” shape in the taillights. However, one of the most impressive historical Jeep references is a little more obvious: the name.
AutoWeek reports that the history of the Jeep Renegade name way back in October of 1992. For the 1971 model year, AMC’s product planning department opted to add some spice to the CJ-5 with the “Renegade II” option package, based on the popularity of a similarly-named concept show car.
Jeep Renegade Concept
While the concept of an Fiat-based Jeep is entirely new, the name certainly isn’t. It’s been assigned to various Jeep submodels throughout the years. Aside from the requisite tape stripes, the CJ-5 Jeep Renegade II featured large chrome wheels wrapped with off-road tires, vinyl bucket seats, a roll bar, side steps, and additional instrumentation on the gauge cluster.
Internal Greatness
The big story, though, was under the hood. The Renegade’s beefy tough-guy looks were backed up by Jeep’s potent Dauntless V6, replaced in later years by a five liter 304 cubic inch AMC V8. This granted the short-wheelbase 4×4 an unparalleled level of performance, revolutionizing the small utility vehicle segment in the same way the current Renegade would decades later.
While the idea of special edition Wranglers is pretty standard fare nowadays, they can all trace their lineage back to the success of the 1971 CJ-5 Renegade II. From the Sahara to the Rubicon, it’s fair to assume that they wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the runaway popularity of what amounted to a roll bar, some tape stripes, and a beefy engine.
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