The spy photographers at KGP caught the 2008 Jeep Liberty in an unintentional state of undress, revealing the revamped Jeep without camouflage for the very first time. We first saw a Liberty prototype about one month ago, but it had some fairly thorough disguising covering the front fasica, its front and rear fenders,and its D-pillar. With its camo in place, the Liberty prototype looked a lot like its platform-mate, the Dodge Nitro. But in this undisguised state, it’s clear that the new Liberty will sport its own design language.
Comparing the old a new model was made easy since a supplier conveniently parked this undisguised prototype nose-to-tail with the current Liberty. The new Liberty’s upsized stature — both in wheelbase and overall length — will benefit passengers and cargo capacity. The extra space has also enabled the next Liberty’s undercarriage to be repackaged to make room for a spare tire placed beneath the rear bumper, instead of perched on the tailgate, as it is on the current model. The change allows the ‘08 model to have a vertical hatch instead of the swing-out tailgate that graces today’s Liberty. Gallery after the jump…
10/17, 10:13 AM
posted by:
Saud
Actually I think it’s a Jeep version of the dodge nitro.
10/17, 10:19 AM
posted by:
6ix
Agree with Saud. I like it though. Finally brings back the classic look of the Cherokee. And they finally stretched out that awkward rear glass.
This, in white with tan leather, would be sweet. Classy.
10/17, 10:23 AM
posted by:
(V)ike
The NITRO is a Dodge version of the Jeep Liberty. This is a redesigned jeep Liberty. Pulling cues off the commander.
10/17, 10:31 AM
posted by:
MTH
Is jeep just trying to drive out all off-road DNA from their product? There is a functional component to having the tire on the back. If you get bogged down off road and lose a tire, you will be glad everything you need to change it is in the swing gate. There is no unloading of the vehicle to retrieve the tools, and sometimes you will have a condition where you can’t get the tire down at all. I realize that the most folks may not use them this way, but with the Compass a flop for them, and HUMMER stretching it’s legs a bit with more entries, staying true to the brand formula makes sense to me.
10/17, 10:31 AM
posted by:
S-60-driver
Look at the third pic….. what an ugly rear design. The taillight is huge!! Small bumper! Looks really bad. Hope they fix it before they come out.
10/17, 10:39 AM
posted by:
davidg1977
So I see DCX coming to an impass with their design… the Avenger is an 80% version of the Charger, the Liberty will be an 60% version of the Commander.
I know that the going trend is “design language” across all the car companies, but as now the phrase and become cliche and worth of quotation marks, so too, in my mind, is the idea that all vehicles from the same brand should look alike.
I don’t see any creativity in taking attributes of their other vehicles and pasting them together to build a different iteration on a smaller scale. In turn, the “new” Liberty is nothing new to look at as the Commander’s design will be quite stale (although it’s always been pretty lackluster) when it debuts.
10/17, 10:44 AM
posted by:
1234
Yawn.. this vehicle looks like every other ugly, SUV box design. zzzzzzzzzzz….
10/17, 10:53 AM
posted by:
MyGodBeatsYourGod
Hey folks…
Its just a product sold by a large multi-national manufacturer. So what if it looks like another product from the same manufacturer? BMW has done it with a couple sedans and a coupe or two for 40 years.
Sure beats the Koreans and Chinese makers who have no ‘design language’ of their own and copy anybody that is popular. The Japanese makers have slowly secured their own identities and mostly try to be somewhat original.
BUT: Designers are NOT tied to “The Grand History of Automotive Design” and they are not attempting to mark the evolution of pure design, no matter how many ‘brainstorming’ sessions in the studio. They are dressing up an established set of hard points with a corporate look.
16th year in the business….
10/17, 11:24 AM
posted by:
TomF
It’s smoother-looking than the Commander, which is a visual disaster in my opinion, and there’s a nod in there somewhere to the old Grand Cherokee profile. But it’s still just another big stupid box on wheels, and it’ll hit the market just as nobody wants them anymore.
10/17, 11:32 AM
posted by:
Endurancevm
Are they sure its not a Nitro maybe? doesnt look anything like a Jeep. Well maybe a short Commander with a Nitro rear end.
10/17, 11:33 AM
posted by:
doublearon21
looks much better than the old one.
10/17, 11:41 AM
posted by:
A4
ugh i actually thought badge engineering was going to make two similar models look completely different (nitro/liberty) but i guess i was wrong. the updated liberty should be the Patriot with liberty running gear so its “trail rated”
10/17, 12:27 PM
posted by:
Shawn1982
I like it a lot better than the old one. It’s not just a rough copy of the old ugly Merc ML anymore.
10/17, 12:30 PM
posted by:
bepsf
What this needs is some scissor doors, a powder-blue paintjob w/ orange stripes and 850HP!!!
(ugh)
10/17, 12:48 PM
posted by:
Joey D
Ugly, and it looks like its the Patroit not the Liberty, but either way ugly.
10/17, 1:44 PM
posted by:
Bobzooki
What a Piece of unadulterated ****. The Nitro is crap this is worse
10/17, 2:49 PM
posted by:
Freshshoebox
LOL, bepsf…
10/17, 3:39 PM
posted by:
angelo
Nitro is based on Liberty. With that grille, it could be nothing but a Jeep.
10/17, 8:06 PM
posted by:
Vertical
It’s not bad, but far from exciting. Jeep could have built the Gladiator, but cancelled that program and we get this and the Compas instead?!!
10/17, 11:06 PM
posted by:
elviososa
GOD….from bad to worse. FUGLY!
10/18, 1:13 AM
posted by:
autonutt
Oh come on guys.. it’s not THAT bad. But I agree that DC has come to an impasse with regards to styling differentiation.. particularly in the rear of most of their SUVs. They just can’t decide which brand should have which taillamps! The previous Liberty taillamps looked just like the Dodge Durango’s, but now the new Nitro taillamps look just like the Jeep Commander’s! And to make matters worse, the taillamps on this new Liberty look lifted right from the previous-generation Grand Cherokee! Come on guys, let’s stick with one motif per brand.. it seems to be working for Dodge cars!
10/18, 7:08 AM
posted by:
Carnut4ever
The front end is a smaller but better proportioned copy of the Commander. The overall stance looks better than the smaller old model.
10/18, 9:20 AM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Wow! It looks like the Commander…so how does the Grand Cherokee fit into all this?
10/18, 11:28 PM
posted by:
Phil
So…what’s the difference between the Nitro and the Patriot and the Liberty? They’re all the same size and price, and when you factor in the Compass, you have four vehicles from DCX competing against each other.
10/19, 6:47 AM
posted by:
LamborghiniZ
Gross, the mini commander styling cues look gross. Boooooooo on this one
01/18, 12:51 PM
posted by:
DSPSuperman
WTF!?!?!?!?!?! Please, DCX, DO NOT MAKE THIS1!!! This is not only the bastard child of the Commander and the Nitro, it’s totally useless. I agree that the spare tire needs to be fitted to the back. I would be ashamed to show up at the hunting shack driving that. I have a 2004 Libby now and I am very pleased with the design, style, HP and towing it has. It makes me sick to think that this is the next gen in Libbys. Stop making vehicles that are exact replicas of others in the same line, just a different size, and start thinking about the consumer. Keep the same body style and give us a diesel with a 5 speed manual!!!