Ford product designers are busy creating a convertible four-wheel-drive vehicle to challenge DaimlerChrysler AG's Jeep Wrangler, according to media reports.
Code-named U-260, the vehicle is expected to debut in 2003 as a 2004 model and share a chassis with the redesigned Ford Ranger pickup, which is set to go on sale in 2002.
Wrangler's line goes back to "Jeep" military vehicles used during World War II and last year the company sold nearly 90,000 Wranglers. And the vehicles boast some of the highest owner-loyalty rates in the industry.
