The Jeep Treo is one of the Jeep entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 2003, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable. Its designer of record is Freeman Thomas.
The background
The Jeep Treo was an electric concept car produced by Chrysler under their Jeep brand in the early twenty first century. Launched at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show, it was envisaged for production in 2008, but the single prototype remained a one-off.
Designed for the Asian young urban driver, the car was fitted with three seats and had the provision to carry mountain bikes as an integral part of the near-teardrop shaped design. Although the prototype was designed to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, in its production form the car was to be given hybrid petrol-electric drive.
Under the skin
The record carries the layout — and the layout: drive goes to all four wheels, which is what lets the power be used on a wet road. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Where it sits
On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Mazda Mazda3, the Mazda RX-8, the Bentley Continental GT. Its Jeep stablemates include the Jeep Wrangler (JK) and the Jeep Wrangler (TJ).