Jeep Gladiator gets new grille, bigger touchscreen for 2024

The 2024 Jeep Gladiator is getting a restyled grille and a larger touchscreen to command the upgraded infotainment system.

The updates to the midsize pickup, which launched in 2019, mirror changes on the freshened Wrangler unveiled in April.

Like the Wrangler, the Gladiator gets a 12.3-inch screen as it moves to the Uconnect 5 infotainment platform, a new seven-microphone array for clearer phone conversations while driving and 12-way adjustable power front seats on the top trims. It has an antenna integrated into the windshield to replace the hood-mounted whip antenna that could get stuck in the brush during off-road sessions. Other additions include standard side airbags and trail guides that drivers can use in Uconnect.

The Gladiator gets standard forward-collision warning and adaptive cruise control for the Sport S trim and higher.

The changes come in a year when U.S. sales of the Gladiator have fallen 29 percent through June, to 27,326. That ranks fifth among the seven midsize pickups on the market. The Gladiator was the third most popular midsize pickup last year, when sales declined 13 percent.

Jeep unveiled the updated Gladiator on Wednesday at the Detroit auto show and said consumers can begin ordering the truck immediately.

"Don't worry, you can still have almost 3 feet of water fording in this thing and still move around your power seats," Jim Morrison, Jeep's North America head, said during a media preview of the Gladiator last week. "We haven't taken away any of the trail-ratedness of it."

The 2024 edition gets two new trims: Mojave X and Rubicon X. Both have an integrated off-road camera, steel bumpers and Nappa leather-trimmed power front seats.

The biggest exterior design tweak is the refashioned grille that first appeared on the 2024 Wrangler. Jeep said the new grille's black textured vertical slots improve cooling.

Vince Galante, Jeep's vice president of exterior design, said it "was really important to us is that it was instantly recognizable as a Jeep, and it was instantly recognizable as the 2024 Jeep from down the road."

The Gladiator gets seven new 17-inch wheel options, which open up opportunities for personalization, Galante said.

The 12.3-inch touchscreen compares with the 7-inch and 8.4-inch screens on current models.

Drivers who take the Gladiator off-road can use the larger screen for Jeep Adventure Guides. Guides for the 62 Jeep Badge of Honor trails are loaded into the navigation system, and a subscription upgrade unlocks the full catalog of 3,000-plus trails from Trails Offroad, which creates the guides.

Jeep is dropping the EcoDiesel engine from the lineup for 2024 but will continue to offer a 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine with either a six-speed manual transmission or an eight-speed automatic.

Performance specs haven’t changed. The Gladiator has 285 hp, 260 pound-feet of torque and 7,700 pounds of towing capacity.

While Jeep has established itself as a major player in the plug-in hybrid space with 4xe versions of the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee, the Gladiator will go without it, at least for the time being.

“All I can say is stay tuned,” Morrison said. “We have been very public with by 2025, we will electrify the entire range, so, by deduction, you’ll know that it’s coming.”