The Jeep brand has been synonymous with the military, the great outdoors, and four-wheeling for nearly eighty years. The popular automaker has recently expanded its lineup, adding quite a few new models to its lineup. But it’s the new 2020 Jeep Gladiator that’s raising eyebrows lately, in part because its average transaction price is currently well over $50,000.

A pickup built with a Jeep badge is new and exciting for a lot of buyers, even if they have had several compelling alternatives in the recent past. And if you look at the Gladiator on Jeep’s homepage, it touts quite a few features that promise to make the Gladiator more than a Wrangler with a bed:

• The best-in-class available towing capacity of 7,650 pounds and 1,600-pound payload
• An available forward-facing TrailCam Off-Road Camera
• Front and rear end Tru-Lok® locking differentials
• Over 80 standard and available safety and security features

Jeep also shares a starting MSRP of $33,545, but if you want the features that make the Gladiator as cool as it looks on the landing page, it’ll cost you a much-less-affordable $43,545. And if you really go crazy with the options, your new Jeep Gladiator will easily cost you thousands more. Then again, that’s the way it is with every new car or truck.

Dealers Driving up Prices

According to Autoblog, the current average transaction price of a new 2020 Gladiator is about $56,400. But that’s not simply because buyers only want loaded Gladiators. It looks like dealers are marking up all versions of the Gladiator somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000 over the initial asking price. 

If that’s not frustrating enough, dealers don’t appear to be content selling $60,000 Gladiators, either. Some have pushed the markup so high, a few Gladiators have even been listed for more than $80,000. For comparison, if one were to configure your own Gladiator and add all the bells and whistles, it would cost around $62,000 for a fully-loaded Rubicon. For $80,000, you could get some seriously luxurious alternatives instead.

Comparisons to the Ranger

Because both trucks were introduced at such similar times and compete in the same segment, it’s hard not to automatically compare the Jeep Gladiator with the Ford Ranger. They may not be aimed at exactly the same market, but they’re close enough to warrant taking a closer look.

From a price point and sales standpoint, while both the Gladiator and Ranger have only recently gone on sale, estimates of cost and number of vehicles sold are:

• Ford sold around 7,750 Rangers with an average price tag of just over $37,000
• Meanwhile, Jeep’s Gladiator sold approximately 2,550 units with average prices in the $56,000 range

So at first glance, it would appear as though many more consumers are leaning towards a more traditional, familiar, and less expensive pickup truck as opposed to the costly Gladiator model. On the other hand, customers wouldn’t be paying these huge markups if they didn’t think owning the new Gladiator was worth it.

A Brief Glance at Jeep’s Other Prices

The folks over at CarGurus put together a comparison of Jeep prices of different models, and if you’ve gotten this far, it should be no surprise to see the Gladiator top their list. The default date looks at figures over the past six months and shows the nearest priced model of the Wrangler Unlimited edition is less than half the cost of Jeep’s new truck. And with an average selling price of around $60,000, the Gladiator is over six times as expensive as the more moderately priced Liberty.

If the Gladiator is what you want, then we say go for it. Don’t let high transaction prices and potential dealer markups scare you off. It’s a seriously cool truck. But at the same time, we can’t help hoping markups disappear over the next year.

All images provided by the manufacturer unless otherwise noted.