Report: No Big Architecture Changes for Jeep Wrangler

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV won't be turning the iconic Jeep Wrangler into a unitized-body vehicle after all, according to Automotive News.

The newspaper cites multiple sources who say the next-generation Wrangler due in 2017 will ride on the same body-on-frame architecture of the current model.

Last month CEO Sergio Marchionne floated the notion of an aluminum, unitized-body Wrangler. But he also said such a design could not be economically produced in Toledo, Ohio, where Wranglers have been made for decades.

Body-on-frame and unitized architectures can't be produced on the same line. And Marchionne says that converting the Toledo facility to fabricate aluminum bodies would be "outrageously" expensive.

AN sources says FCA favors a switch to aluminum panels anyway. Some observers interpret Marchionne's remarks about cost as an indication the company is hoping for help from Ohio and the city of Toledo for the cost of retooling the facility.