Why did the chicken cross the road? 'Cause Jeep is finally gonna build a Wrangler-based pickup. Makes no sense, but neither does why it's taken Jeep so long to give us Wrangler with a pickup bed.

 There was article on businessweek.com yesterday citing Chrysler Group LLC's desire to bring the Wrangler-based pickup to the market. Mike Manley, head of Chrysler's Jeep brand said once the company decides to build it, the vehicle could conceivably be ready for sale in 24 months.

Then, just this morning Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said at a roundtable discussion that Jeep is going to build a multipurpose vehicle with a pickup truck-like bed in the back. The Dodge Ram guys seem miffed that Jeep will be offering a pickup-based SUV, but Marchionne says he thinks there's room for both vehicles under the company umberella. So, we guess there may be a Jeep pickup on your dealership lot in 24 months, right? Let's hope.

Jeep isn't calling it a pickup, though. We can only assume it's to keep the Ram guys from going all postal with Supersoakers full of ice water at the company picnic. Hell, call it a banana for all we care. As long as they build it, we're happy.