Dealer markups for Jeep Gladiator sometimes $20,000 over sticker price

We learned the other day that the average transaction price of a Jeep Gladiator for the short time it's been on sale so far is $56,403. That figure comes courtesy of Cox Automotive. As we peruse the listings on sites like Autotrader and Cars.com, another thing becomes obviously clear: Dealers are marking Gladiators up substantially.

Take a look yourself and you'll find Gladiators of all trim levels listed for $10,000-$20,000 more than their MSRP, as pointed out by Car and Driver. Some of these trucks have dealer accessories or other Mopar add-ons included to boost their prices well into the $70,000 range. Others are just normal Gladiators that dealers are looking to make a healthy profit on. Not even the cheaper Sport and Sport S trims are exempt from this price-palooza. This sedate Sport S in California is listed for an eye-watering $69,995. The most expensive Gladiator you can build on Jeep's configurator maxes out around $62,000, and that's for a fully-loaded Rubicon. Some of these dealers are probably dreaming, but there are Rubicons that arch over the $80,000 mark.

We asked Jeep what it thought of these extreme markups being applied to its new pickup truck, and for now, Jeep has no comment. We'll let you know if that changes.

FCA has had a strong response to dealers marking its cars up in the past. The Dodge Demon is one of the more recent examples. Dodge would move any car sold for over MSRP to the back of the line in production. Any dealer that sold an allotment to someone at or below MSRP would be given priority. However, the Gladiator isn't intended to have anywhere close to the level of exclusivity of the Demon. Dodge built just 3,000 Demons, and there are more Gladiators than that currently listed online.

As these things typically go, prices will likely trickle on downwards as Jeep is able to get more of them out there. Simple supply and demand economics apply here, and there are far more buyers interested in the Gladiator than Jeep has made thus far. We'll be following along and watching markups for the truck over time to see how it fares as the months roll on. For now, try and find yourself a dealer that isn't going to make you pay $10,000 over the sticker price for an already pricey truck.