Say, do you remember those glossy-look doors featured on the two-door Ford Bronco, when it was revealed in July, 2020? Dressed in a gradient mandarin-colored Bronco, these doors were expected to be among the plethora of official Ford accessories available for the sixth-generation Bronco. Sadly, the Blue Oval immediately lost our hopes in the cold water shortly after the SUV was revealed, saying the doors weren’t intended for sale at all. It’s a huge shame, too, because they are a reasonable and somewhat attractive alternative to the tubular steel doors (or half doors) that are sometimes installed on off-road vehicles.
Jeep Wrangler Donut door patent image discovered
But the donut door concept might not be quite dead; The Broncos probably won’t be the ones to offer them. as CD player Reports, a recently published design patent from Stellantis (then FCA) depicts a four-door Jeep Wrangler sporting eerily similar doors on the front and rear. The patent application was already filed in May 2017, but was only recently made available. Notably, this means that Jeep’s order came just a month after the JKU Wrangler “Switchback” concept (pictured below) was revealed with exactly the same circular doors shown in this design patent application.
Round doors like these provide, in theory, the same free outdoor driving experience as a set of tubular steel doors on the Jeep Wrangler, but with greater safety, a clean factory look, and perhaps a bit more door storage.
It’s important to note that the design patent will in no way prevent Ford from making its own doors for the Bronco; Design patents extend only to very specific product designs, and as far as we know, the Jeep parent company has not been granted a patent interest on the donut door concept. But by the same token, just because Stellantis holds a patent does not necessarily mean that the company has any intention of offering such an object for sale.
Still, we can hope.
