See page 25 of this analyst presentation document right off of DaimlerChrysler's media website, looks to be a very tiny picture of the production version too.

Clicky (http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/Projects/c2c/channel/documents/802911_AANY2006_Eberhardt.pdf)

That's the first shred of evidence from DC that they are going to produce the Patriot. That pretty much convinced me that they are are going to produce it.

It looks like they didn't do much to the Patriot. I was looking at the page on Jeeps website from back in '05 when it was a concept vehicle : http://www.jeep.com/jeep_life/news/jeep/patriot_compass.html#

I'm not an off-roader (yet), so please excuse me for not knowing the lingo. But I noticed that the original Patriot had two hooks in the lower front bumper like Wrangler's have. Based on the low-res pic in the presentation, it looks like they are still there (or at least it looks like there are slots for them in the bumper). So if they are there, I would only think that the Patriot would be trail-rated. Otherwise, why have the hooks on the front? This is just speculation by a non-off-roader, so I could be totally wrong about this...

Also, I found it interesting that they specifically mentioned that the Wrangler is 2-Doors. That pretty much tells me that they will be coming out with a 4-door version soon, too.

Below is a spy shot of the 4-door Wrangler. The 4-door Wrangler is also rumored to make its debut at the New York Auto Show (April 12-21, 2006).

http://www.mph-online.com/web/spyphotos/0030