The Jeep Era Is Over? How the Wrangler Lost Its Lead to the Bronco and Toyota

The Jeep Wrangler sold 240,032 copies in the United States in 2018 and 151,163 in 2024, a 37 percent drop in six years. Over the same stretch, the Ford Bronco went from not existing to 146,007 sales in 2025, and Toyota's 4Runner, Land Cruiser, and Lexus GX combined for just under 180,000. The Wrangler is still the best-selling nameplate of the group (167,322 in 2025, an 11 percent rebound), so "the Jeep era is over" is a stretch. But the lead is gone, and the reasons are mostly self-inflicted: a top trim priced near $80,000, a platform that changed little between 2018 and 2024, and a parent company with bigger things on its mind. The rivals have real flaws of their own, which is why this is a race and not a funeral.

In this article

• The slide, by the numbers
• Why it happened
• Who picked up the share
• What the Bronco still gets wrong
• What the Land Cruiser gets wrong
• The solid axle
• What Jeep fans actually want
• Frequently asked questions

The slide from 2018 to 2025, by the numbers

The Forge 4x4 YouTube channel recently argued that Jeep did not just lose its lead; it set the crown on fire and parked in the garage it had been told to stay out of. That is the channel's opinion, and a funny one. The sales figures underneath it come from the annual releases FCA US (now part of Stellantis) and Ford publish, and they hold up.

For most of 75 years, buying a Jeep was how you announced you enjoy getting mud in places mud does not belong, and that you don't mind a vehicle that sounds like a leaf blower at 60 mph on the interstate. If you wanted to crawl over anything bigger than a toaster, you bought a Jeep. In 2018, that translated into a record year.

The Wrangler fell every year from 2018 to 2024 except for a small bump in 2021, and the damage from peak to trough is 37 percent. But 2025 was not another step down: Wrangler sales climbed 11 percent, which the video skips. Jeep is not clinging to its last three hairs quite as hard as the thumbnail suggests. Still, 167,322 is 30 percent below the 2018 peak, and the Bronco is within about 21,000 units of it.

Why it happened: price, a stale platform, and a distracted parent

Forge 4x4's diagnosis is that Jeep got high on its own supply. The brand had every trail rig buyer in the country by default, priced the Wrangler like a Porsche, and assumed nobody would notice that Ford and Toyota also employ engineers.

Price. The video puts a top Wrangler trim at about $75,000. The real number is higher. When Jeep opened orders for the 2026 Wrangler Moab 392, Stellantis listed a starting MSRP of $79,995 plus $1,995 destination, so $81,990 before a single option. That is luxury-sedan money for a vehicle with removable doors and a soft top, or, in the channel's words, a luxury-bracket price on tractor-grade refinement.

A platform that barely moved. The JL Wrangler arrived for the 2018 model year, and the channel's complaint is that each model year since brought one small thing: the screen got a little bigger, the climate toggle got a little shinier, and that was the "all-new" Wrangler. That is a caricature, but not by much. The first substantive refresh did not land until the 2024 model year, which brought a 12.3-inch touchscreen, standard side-curtain airbags, an available factory Warn winch, and a Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle on Rubicon models. Real upgrades, six years in coming. The "minivan engine" jab is aimed at the 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6, the same engine family found in the Chrysler Pacifica: reliable, and not what anyone pictures under a Rubicon's hood. The store's Wrangler generations guide has the full CJ-to-JL timeline.

A parent with other priorities. The channel's view is that Stellantis cares more about global platforms than muddy trails, and that enthusiasts pay for it in higher prices and thinner inventory. That is opinion. What is verifiable is how much Wrangler volume leaned on one program: the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid accounted for 55,554 units, or 37 percent of all Wrangler sales, in 2024. The federal clean vehicle credit of up to $7,500 that helped move those plug-ins ended for vehicles acquired after September 30, 2025. Forge 4x4 predicts 4xe demand falls off a cliff without it. Maybe, but a third of your volume riding on a tax incentive is a shaky foundation.

In June 2026, Stellantis filed NHTSA recall 26V363000 covering about 1.08 million 2021 to 2025 Wrangler, Wrangler 4xe, and Gladiator vehicles for power steering pump wiring that can overheat and start a fire even with the ignition off, with owners told to park outside until repaired. It is a repair recall on trucks already sold, not proof they were assembled by a distracted intern on a Friday, but it is not a comeback-year headline. The channel's warning is that without fixes to price and build quality, the Wrangler ends up like the BlackBerry: an icon everyone remembers, and nobody uses.

Who picked up the share: the Bronco first, then Toyota's trio

The Bronco launched in the middle of a pandemic with roughly the grace of a drunk giraffe: a 2020 reveal and a first partial sales year of 35,023 in 2021. By 2022 it was over 117,000, and in 2025 Ford reported an all-time Bronco record of 146,007, up 33.7 percent in a single year. Ford's own release adds where the growth came from: the entry-level Bronco and Big Bend trims more than doubled their sales. Buyers were not lining up for $80,000 Broncos. They were lining up for cheap ones.

Toyota's share came from three directions at once. The 2025 scoreboard:

These five sold 493,260 vehicles in 2025. The Wrangler took about 34 percent of that pile, the Bronco about 30 percent, and Toyota's three about 36 percent combined. Forge 4x4 frames this as Jeep falling from over 60 percent of the "enthusiast 4x4 market" to under 40 percent. There is no published definition of that market, so treat those percentages as the channel's framing, not a measured statistic. The direction is clear: in 2018 the Wrangler was essentially the whole category, and in 2025 it was one contender among five. In the second quarter of 2026, the Bronco outsold the Wrangler for a full quarter for the first time, which the store covered in its Bronco versus Wrangler 2026 scoreboard. That article has the quarterly detail; this one is the six-year story.

What the Bronco still gets wrong: independent front suspension on hard rock

Forge 4x4 is quick to say that Jeep's loss doesn't make the competition perfect. The Bronco rides like a Cadillac next to a Wrangler, and it's because of its independent front suspension. The channel's view is that IFS is like a high-end watch: beautifully precise right up until you hit it with a hammer. Take a stock Bronco into serious rock and, per the channel, you are one bad bounce from a tie rod that folds like a toothpick, because the factory steering rack has the structural integrity of a wet taco shell. The result is a truck stranded on the trail with its front wheels pointed at each other like they are having an argument.

That is opinion, not a failure-rate study; plenty of Bronco owners wheel hard without incident. But heavy-duty tie rods and steering rack braces are among the first upgrades serious Bronco rock crawlers buy, so the concern is not imaginary. The channel's math: buy a Bronco, spend a couple thousand on steering hardware, and you have a rig that does not rattle your teeth on the commute. The store's Bronco trim guide covers which trims get the stronger suspension packages from the factory.

What the Land Cruiser gets wrong: ground clearance

The new Land Cruiser is classy, carries Toyota's reliability reputation, and, per the channel, has the ground clearance of a Honda CR-V. That number checks out. Toyota's product sheet for the 2025 Land Cruiser lists 8.7 inches of ground clearance, with a 32-degree approach, 22-degree departure, and 23-degree breakover angle. Forge 4x4 suspects a riding lawnmower clears more than that, and its forecast for anyone who follows a Rubicon through a rock garden in a stock Land Cruiser is a trail of expensive plastic trim leading back to the parking lot.

For comparison, Stellantis' 2024 Wrangler specification sheet lists 9.7 inches for a base Sport on 245/75R17 tires, 10.8 inches for a Rubicon on 285/70R17s, and 12.9 inches for a four-door Rubicon on the optional 35-inch tires. The cheapest Wrangler out-clears the Land Cruiser by an inch, and a Rubicon on 35s has more than four inches on it. The Land Cruiser needs modifications to keep up; a Rubicon out of the box does not, as the channel admits.

The solid axle: why Jeep fans put up with the shopping cart

Forge 4x4 calls Jeep owners cult members, affectionately, and the reason is the solid front axle. It is old, it is heavy, and it is the reason a Wrangler handles like a shopping cart with a broken wheel at highway speed. It is also nearly indestructible and articulates in a way independent suspension cannot copy: when one wheel is pushed up, the other is forced down, which keeps rubber on rock. Every Wrangler Rubicon ships with Dana axles front and rear, Tru-Lok electronic lockers at both ends, and, since the 2024 refresh, a Dana 44 HD full-float rear axle built for bigger tires. No rival in the table above offers a solid front axle at any price.

That is the whole Jeep bargain: accept the leaf-blower wind noise and the shopping-cart steering on pavement, and get a truck that does not care what you drive it into. The channel's complaint is not that the bargain is bad. It is that Jeep started charging luxury money for it.

What Jeep fans actually want

Strip the jokes away, and Forge 4x4's wish list is short and unglamorous: a capable 4x4 under $50,000 that looks right, climbs real trails without a shopping list of modifications, and has a payment that doesn't require a second job. The channel does not care which badge delivers it; whoever builds that truck wins.

The sales data suggests buyers agree. Stellantis itself credited pricing actions and improved value for the Wrangler's late-2024 retail turnaround, and the 11 percent gain in 2025 followed. The one-year Jeep moved-on price, the slide stopped. The rest of the list is not a mystery either: a real update cadence instead of a bigger screen every other year, engines that belong in a trail rig, build quality that does not generate park-outside recalls, and a Rubicon that stays a Rubicon without a Moab 392 price tag. Jeep still builds the only solid-axle 4x4 in the segment and still sells more of them than anyone. The crown is not gone. It has been set down on the table where everyone can reach it.

Frequently asked questions

How many Jeep Wranglers were sold in 2018 versus 2024?

FCA US reported 240,032 Wrangler sales in 2018, the nameplate's record, and 151,163 in 2024, a 37 percent decline. Sales recovered to 167,322 in 2025, still about 30 percent below the peak.

Does the Ford Bronco outsell the Jeep Wrangler?

Not over a full year yet. In 2025, the Wrangler sold 167,322, and the Bronco sold 146,007. The Bronco did outsell the Wrangler in the second quarter of 2026, the first full quarter it has done so.

Why does the Wrangler use a solid front axle when everyone else uses independent suspension?

A solid axle is heavier and rides worse on pavement, but it articulates further, keeps more tire on the ground over rock, and has fewer parts to break. Independent front suspension rides and steers better, but its tie rods and steering rack are more exposed in hard rock use.

Is there a recall on the Jeep Wrangler right now?

Yes. NHTSA recall 26V363000, filed in June 2026, covers about 1.08 million 2021 to 2025 Wrangler, Wrangler 4xe, and Gladiator vehicles for power steering pump wiring that can overheat and cause a fire even when the vehicle is off. Owners should park outside until dealers complete the free repair.

Related reading on this site: Ford Bronco vs Jeep Wrangler: the 2026 scoreboard, Jeep Wrangler generations from CJ to JL, Ford Bronco trim levels explained, The history of the Ford Bronco.