Jeep will sell Gladiator pickup in Europe

The Wrangler-based truck will arrive in European showrooms next year.

Two of the biggest symbols of the American auto industry, Jeep and the pickup truck, are headed to Europe next year in one neat package. Jeep has confirmed that its all-new Gladiator pickup will land in European showrooms in 2020.

Jeff Hines, head of Jeep's European operations, confirmed the pending launch to Autocar. Hines says the Gladiator will go on sale in Europe and the UK by mid-2020.

"It will land in quarter one or quarter two in 2020,” he said, referring to the Wrangler-based pickup. "It won't be big volumes, but our customers love the idea of it.”

Jeep's decision to sell the Gladiator in Europe is no doubt tied to the brand's success in the region. Last year Jeep's European sales jumped 50 percent to 170,000 units. The smaller Renegade and Compass SUVs are the brand's best-selling models on the continent, but there is clearly a thirst for the brand as a whole that should support sales of a niche vehicle like the Gladiator.

The Gladiator is scheduled to go on sale in the United States within the next few weeks where it will battle in a competitive mid-size truck segment that includes the Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger, among others.

Live photos by Brian Williams.