With a “Trail Rated” badge proudly affixed to its front fenders, the 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk can already brag about its off-road prowess at the challenging Rubicon Trail to other cute utes it competes against. Now the Jeep Renegade Desert Hawk concept helps show off another potential use for Jeep’s all-new subcompact crossover with a beefed-up model that is ready to take on a desert adventure.

Unveiled ahead of the Easter Jeep Safari that invades Moab from March 28 through April 5, the Desert Hawk concept is an interesting take on Jeep’s latest Fiat-based, global off-roader. Looking at the rest of the Moab-bound Jeep concepts, the Renegade Desert Hawk is the most restrained of the bunch, but if any of these models have a chance of making it into production, this snazzy Renegade is probably the best bet.

Continue reading to learn more about the Jeep Renegade Desert Hawk.

Exterior

Starting life as the rugged Renegade Trailhawk, the Jeep Renegade Desert Hawk concept adds a Desert Tan paint job (shared with the Wrangler Africa and Cherokee Canyon Trail concepts) and some Jeep Performance Parts decals to help make the Renegade look even more rugged. This color will not be offered on the Renegade’s palette when it goes on sale, but it sure looks good contrasting with the black accents and the Trailhawk-signature red tow hooks.

Like the Cherokee Canyon Trail, the Renegade Desert Hawk has a clever topographical map for a hood decal, but in this case it shows the Fins and Things Moab trail (the Cherokee concept depicts the Hell's Revenge trail). The concept’s styling is finished with an all-black version of the Renegade Trailhawk’s standard 17-inch wheel design, and for good measure, Jeep also threw on a roof rack and a two-inch receiver hitch. Judging by the Renegade Hard Steel Concept that was revealed at Geneva with a matching trailer, the inclusion of this receiver hitch could show that Jeep plans to focus on the Renegade’s towing abilities – rated at 2,000 pounds for the Renegade Trailhawk 4WD.

Interior

Jeep spruced up the interior of the Renegade Desert Hawk concept with a set of Katzkin seat covers from Mopar along with Mopar all-weather floor mats and interior accents that are painted to match the exterior. Although these changes are all just superficial, the Desert Tan accents – and the similarly colored seat stitching – make for a more stylish cabin instead of the Ruby Red accents that will be available in the production Renegade Trailhawk.

Drivetrain

There’s nothing new to see here as the Jeep Renegade Desert Hawk makes no changes to the Renegade’s stock powertrain. This concept sticks with the Trailhawk’s standard 2.4-liter Tigershark four-cylinder engine that produces 180 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque. This power can be sent to all four wheels through the Renegade’s Jeep Active Drive Low, which comes with a 20:1 crawl ratio and the five-mode Jeep Selec-Terrain system.

The Renegade Desert Hawk does add rock rails and a skid plate to keep the Renegade from getting too beat up out in Moab, as well as upgrading the Trailhawk’s standard Falken Wildpeak 215/65R17 tires to a slightly taller Falken Wildpeak A/T all-terrain rubber measuring 235/65R17.

Conclusion

The 2015 Jeep Renegade still has an uphill battle in winning over diehard Jeep enthusiasts, but concepts like the Renegade Desert Hawk should help to bring dissenters around. Rather than adding a bunch of over-the-top custom parts, the Renegade Desert Hawk is more of a no-frills concept that focuses on Mopar and Jeep Performance Parts that could eventually become available to consumers when the crossover goes on sale – right down to the blacked-out wheels and the Katzkin seat covers.