The <> type isn't dead!(Light vehicles)

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The <> type isn't dead!(Light vehicles)

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At the 2007 DSEi exhibition in September Chrysler announced that it would launch a new 4 x 4 version of the iconic Jeep light utility vehicle an the military market early next year. The more than 630,000 Jeeps produced during the Second World War defined the breed: it featured a robust chassis, excellent cross-country performance, great adaptability and it was inexpensive.

When America's National D-day Museum in New Orleans held an exhibition on the quarter-tonne 4 x 4 Truck, the formal designation for the Jeep, to mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day, it was titled 'Everyone has a Jeep'. Although it was pressed into service as a reconnaissance vehicle and a weapons carrier the unarmoured Jeep was not designed for front-line combat operations. In fact the name derives from the pronunciation of the two letters GP; meaning General Purpose.

The basic characteristics of any successful modern light utility vehicle, or LUV, such as the British Land Rover, the German Mercedes-Benz G-Class and the AM General Hummer, are the same as for those early Jeeps: a robust, rugged design with good...

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