The Jeep Wagoneer is a luxury 4x4 sold and produced for Jeep under successive automakers from 1962 to 1991. Marketed as a station wagon, the pioneering design created the luxury 4X4 niche and became known in time as a "sport utility vehicle" (SUV). The 4WD Wagoneer stayed in production for 29 model-years (1963–1991) with almost unchanged body-structure, making it the third longest-produced single generation car in U.S. automotive history.
It was introduced in November 1962 for the 1963 model year as a successor to the Willys Jeep Station Wagon that had been built since 1946. Although sharing a pickup truck chassis (like its predecessor), the Wagoneer had a sophisticated station wagon body design, that was more carlike than any other 4x4 on the market. Compared with offerings from GM, Ford, International Harvester, and Land Rover — which were producing utilitarian work-oriented vehicles with spartan truck-like interiors — the Wagoneer's luxury set it apart. Together with the Gladiator Truck, the revolutionary Wagoneer SJ platform sported an advanced overhead cam straight-six engine, and offered features unheard of at the time in any other mainstream 4WD vehicle, such as independent front suspension, power steering, automatic transmission, a factory radio and optional air-conditioning.
The Wagoneer made its debut seven years before Land Rover launched its Range Rover in Great Britain, 18 years before Land Rover introduced a 4-door version, and 24 years before that marque appeared in the US.