It Turns Out, Land Rover Styling Doesn’t Work Great On A Jeep

The Jeep Wrangler is surely one of the most customized vehicles on the planet. The world of parts for changing the appearance and performance of them is seemingly never-ending. It also got a little bigger with the introduction of new accessories from British SUV customizer Chelsea Truck Company. The company launched a new “Heritage Lattice Grille” and “British Heritage Wheels” for the Wrangler. The idea seems to be to bring a bit of Land Rover Defender styling to the American icon. The wheels sure work, but we’re not sold on the grille.

Iconic Styling Doesn’t Always Translate

It’s fairly clear that Chelsea wanted to apply the same sort of square mesh found on old Defenders and Land Rover Series models to the Wrangler. To the company’s credit, the part does look like a quality piece. It also makes an attempt to give a slightly squared, Land Rover-style surround for the headlights, and there’s a panel that appears to be removable to fit a forward-facing trail camera. Unfortunately, the shape of a Wrangler is just too different from old Land Rovers for this to really evoke those SUVs. The narrow nose and low fenders are far removed from the plain box shape of Defenders. It’s the opposite problem to the Suzuki Jimny, which is such a boxy little thing, that it’s easy for companies such as DAMD to make convincing kits to turn it into a tiny Defender or G-Class. This grille on the Jeep just makes it look generic and anonymous, sort of like a vehicle in a Grand Theft Auto game.

Chelsea Nailed The Wheels

While the grille isn’t a big success, the wheels Chelsea has introduced absolutely are. We’ve seen many alloy wheels with the look of plain steel ones, and truthfully they all look great. These are no exception, though we’re particularly impressed at how good they look even in their large sizes. You can get them in either 20- or 22-inch diameter, which are quite sizable, even modern Jeeps. The pictured truck is wearing the 20-inch examples. The etched logos and labels touting the claimed 5-ton payload rating really pop against the matte black paint, and they look purposeful. They would look good on any Wrangler, as well as all variety of other retro off-road SUVs such as the new Defender, Ford Bronco and Ineos Grenadier.

Complete pricing hasn’t been given for these parts, but the 22-inch wheels have been priced. Through Project Kahn, you can get a full set for $3,806.40, currently discounted from $4,075.20. The 20-inch versions haven’t been listed yet. As for the grille, it isn’t listed just yet, but another Wrangler grille on offer from Kahn and Chelsea starts at around $1,600, so the “Heritage” one will likely cost a similar amount.