Jeep Is Paying Moab $225,000 a Year to Be Its 'Official 4x4.' Off-Roaders Should Read the Fine Print

Every spring, Moab, Utah, turns into the center of the off-road universe. Easter Jeep Safari fills the town with lifted Wranglers, trail-built Cherokees and factory concepts on 37s, and the slickrock above town becomes the most photographed off-road terrain in the country. Jeep calls Moab its "home away from home." Now the town is making that official, and getting paid for it.

The Moab City Council has entered a two-year sponsorship agreement with Stellantis that lets Jeep market itself as the "Official 4x4 of Moab," The Drive reported on Sept. 19, citing The Salt Lake Tribune. The deal is considered a pilot program, with the option to revisit and extend it after two years.

What Jeep is paying

The headline number is $225,000 a year, according to the Tribune's reporting as summarized by The Drive. Of that, $125,000 a year is unrestricted funding the city can use however it wants. The city is reportedly considering using some of it to add a half-time employee in its Arts and Special Events department to handle promotional work tied to the partnership, with the rest going to the general fund.

On top of that, Jeep will provide five vehicles for city use, contribute to trail stewardship and restoration, and sponsor community events, all valued at $100,000 a year in the agreement. The named events are the Red Rocks Art Festival and a celebration of the 125th anniversary of Moab's incorporation, which dates to Dec. 30, 1902, plus an unnamed multi-day event in 2028.

The biggest number is the marketing. The agreement calls for Jeep to provide $10 million a year in marketing support, likely content produced by Jeep with the approval of Moab officials, per the report. The Drive noted that figure is about five times the current marketing budget of the Moab Office of Tourism.

Why Moab said yes

Councilor Miles Loftin made the plain case to the Tribune, as relayed by The Drive: Jeep and other companies already use images of Moab and its surroundings to sell vehicles, so it is only fair that Moab gets something back. That is hard to argue with. The red rock around town has sold a lot of Wranglers over the years, and Moab has not seen a check for any of it.

For a small city that lives on tourism, $10 million a year in marketing that it does not have to pay for is enormous. So is money set aside for trail restoration, which is a constant need in a place where thousands of rigs a year run the same routes.

Why off-roaders should pay attention

Here is where the fine print matters for everybody who does not drive a Jeep. Moab's trails are public, and the off-road community there is a lot bigger than one brand. Broncos, Toyotas, side-by-sides, rock crawlers on buggy chassis and lifted trucks of every make run the same slickrock.

Nothing in the deal, as reported, gives Jeep any control over trail access. But an "official" brand partnership raises fair questions. Will town-sponsored marketing feature only Jeeps? Will trail restoration money come with any strings, or a Jeep logo on the trailhead sign? The Drive's Stephen Edelstein asked the obvious question himself: given how close Jeep and Moab already are, will the title change anything at all?

There is also the bigger picture of land access, which has been the real fight around Moab. In 2023, as The Drive reported at the time, the Bureau of Land Management approved a plan closing 317 miles of off-highway routes in the Labyrinth Canyon and Gemini Bridges area west of town, including a handful used during Easter Jeep Safari, after a yearslong dispute that traced back to a 2008 lawsuit by the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Brand deals come and go. Trail closures are much harder to reverse. If Jeep's trail stewardship money helps keep routes open and in good shape, everyone wins, Ford and Toyota owners included.

The Easter Jeep Safari connection

Jeep's hold on Moab comes from Easter Jeep Safari, which The Drive noted has been running for 60 years, and where Jeep shows off concept builds that hint at future products. This year's batch, revealed in March, was led by an XJ Cherokee throwback called the XJ Pioneer and a 392 V8-powered Wrangler concept called the Anvil, according to The Drive. Those concepts are the purest expression of what lifted and built 4x4s look like in the factory's imagination: big tires, long-travel suspension, steel bumpers, winches and roof racks. The 2026 concepts photographed against Moab's red rock are the images Jeep will lean on hardest under this deal.

It is also a sign of where the industry thinks the off-road boom is heading. Brands now fight over Moab the way they once fought over racetracks, because the lifted, built 4x4 has become one of the most profitable images in the car business. A city-level sponsorship takes that one step further.

For now, Moab gets a check, five vehicles and a marketing budget it could only dream of. Jeep gets a title it has more or less held for years anyway. The off-road community will be watching to see whether "official" stays a word on a billboard or turns into something more.