Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque (and registered trademark) of DaimlerChrysler. The marque, like all other Chrysler subsidaries, became part of DaimlerChrysler when Daimler-Benz merged with the Chrysler Corporation in 1998. Jeep, like Band-Aid and Xerox, is rapidly becoming a genericized trademark. Unlike Band-Aid and Xerox, however, jeep did not start out as a trademark. The term was first applied to a military vehicle, the Bantam BRC, Willys-Overland, Ford Motor Company for the United States Army during World War II. The term is also sometimes used to refer generically to what are now known as SUVs, whether the vehicle in question bears the Jeep nameplate or not. The army jeep was one of the vehicles that led to the SUV era of the 1980s.

A road that is only suitable for off-road vehicles is often called a jeep trail. The most famous is perhaps Black Bear Road, made famous in the song of the same name by C.W. McCall.

History

The origin of the term jeep

There are many stories about where the name "jeep" came from. The following two reasons for the name "jeep", although they make interesting and memorable stories, aren't quite accurate.