The Comanche was a Unibody vehicle, an unusual form of truck like the Volkswagen Rabbit pickup and Dodge Rampage. Jeep designers based its body, styling, and suspension on the Cherokee, which had been introduced for the 1984 model year. AMC's Jeep engineering staff designed a subframe that connected to the modified Cherokee Monocoque (unibody) structure to support the cargo box. Two such subframes were designed; one for the long-bed model, which appeared first, and a second, shorter version for the short-bed, which debuted for 1987.