The last time a Wrangler wore the Laredo badge, Reagan was in office and the Berlin Wall was still standing. Now Jeep is bringing it back for 2027, draped in cowboy iconography and bronze trim, as the ninth installment in its twelve-model anniversary blitz celebrating 85 years of the brand.
The Wrangler Laredo arrives as a $1995 add-on to the Wrangler Willys with the Xtreme 35 package, pushing the starting price to roughly $48,000. For that money, buyers get retro-modern hood graphics, a tan soft top, sand-colored grille, bronze tow hooks, and 17-inch bronze wheels wrapped in 35-inch BFGoodrich KO2 tires. The rear tailgate spells “4WD” in a lasso-style font.
Then there’s the interior, where things get aggressively thematic. Cowboy hats adorn the air vent covers. Bison brown nappa leather covers the seats, Mayan Gold stitching runs throughout, and a plaque on the rear swing gate displays a map of Laredo, Texas, the Rio Grande border town that inspired the whole thing.
Under the skin, nothing has changed. The 3.6-liter V-6 makes 285 horsepower, and the Willys platform with the Xtreme 35 package delivers performance brakes, wheel flare extensions, and a higher rear axle ratio. This is a cosmetics play, not an engineering one.
The Laredo name originally appeared on the CJ-5 in the early 1980s as a premium trim, then carried over when the Wrangler replaced the CJ. It disappeared quietly and stayed gone for nearly four decades. Its resurrection is part of Jeep’s Twelve 4 Twelve Wrangler Series, a campaign loosely inspired by the military practice of airdropping Jeeps to troops during World War II.
Jeep has been leaning hard into heritage plays, and the math makes sense. Wrangler buyers are already predisposed to spend on personalization. A $1995 appearance package with a story attached is one of the most profitable moves a manufacturer can make.
No new tooling. No powertrain development. Just graphics, leather, and a name that rings a bell for anyone old enough to remember the original.
The question is whether twelve special editions in a single model year dilutes the meaning of “special edition.” The Sarge arrived earlier this year with its own military-inspired paint and trim. Each successive drop competes with the last for attention and collector appeal.
By the time number twelve rolls around, the concept risks feeling less like a celebration and more like a clearance strategy for a platform that everyone knows is living on borrowed time before electrification reshapes the Jeep lineup.
Orders open later this month for both two-door and four-door configurations. Jeep hasn’t disclosed production numbers, though the “limited edition” label suggests controlled volume. Given the Wrangler’s historically strong residuals and the enthusiast community’s appetite for anything with a story, the Laredo will almost certainly find its buyers without breaking a sweat.
At $48,000, you’re paying real money for a Wrangler that is fundamentally the same truck underneath but wears its Texas heritage on every surface. Whether cowboy hat vents and a lasso font justify the premium depends entirely on how much romance you want from your off-roader. Jeep is betting the answer, at least twelve times this year, is plenty.
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