- am general is known for turning the humvee into the civilian hummer, but now the company is teaming with jeep to build a military-grade jeep gladiator.
- the gladiator xmt (extreme military-grade truck) features massive off-road tires, two 4x4 systems, skid plates and tow hooks, and the doors and roof are removed.
- the xmt could go into production as soon as late 2020, but only if the u.s. army places the order.
am general is mostly known for turning the military-grade humvee into the civilian hummer, that behemoth gas guzzler that almost every person with money drove in the late '90s and early 2000s. we haven't seen them produce anything for the civilian market since then. however, now am is partnering with jeep to turn the increasingly popular gladiator into this badass military truck called the gladiator xmt.
the xmt stands for "extreme military-grade truck," and this concept truck is pretty extreme. from these photos released by am, we can see a beige model with the doors and roof removed and a huge brush guard mounted on the front bumper. there are two other variants, with one looking somewhat like a transport vehicle. the xmt is fitted with massive bfgoodrich tires, two 4x4 systems, locking differentials, skid plates, and tow hooks. it has a 54-degree approach angle and a 30-degree departure angle, making this concept truck even more off-road capable than the already off-road capable gladiator on which it's based.
the truck weighs in at about 12,800 pounds, and the winch can withstand up to 12,000 pounds. keep in mind that the already highly capable standard gladiator has 7650 pounds of towing capacity with the max tow package and up to 1600 pounds of payload. the xmt matches both of these numbers.
additional xmt options include a heavy-duty suspension, 37-inch wheels, troop rollover protection, a central tire inflation system, and armor.
it will also be offered with a turbo-diesel engine. jeep previously announced that a 3.0-liter diesel v-6 will be offered on four-door unlimited models of the gladiator by the end of this year.
production will happen based on interest from the military community, a.k.a. the u.s. army. we haven't seen a military jeep for a while, and am appears pretty confident that production could start in late 2020. the company will custom tailor xmts to meet mission-specific requirements from military customers, which means we could see some pretty cool variants of the xmt in the future.
in our first test of the 2020 gladiator, we called it "off-road gold." we can't begin to fathom what this even more capable military version will be like, and we hope civilians get the chance to climb into one.