While standard jeeps and hover jeeps have been built for over a thousand years, their designs have changed little since being "finalized" under fire during the Islamic Jihad. The massive Earthwerks Corporation decided it was time to introduce a revolution in the hover jeep market in the late 2600s, and came out with the first of their Freedom series, a design that cost less than half that of a standard hover jeep.

         Simplicity and reliability are the features that have made the Freedom-series the single most successful design to compete with the larger, and more expensive, "standard" jeeps. This simplicity and ruggedness has allowed EarthWerks to offer the Freedom series in a sometimes bewildering range of options and models-everything from MPVs, through to light cargo conversions to even law enforcement and ambulance models.
         Critics of the Freedom-series however note that the Freedom is slower than the standard hover jeep. They also mention that it can carry less cargo/people. Most damning in their eyes though is the minimal armor that a Freedom-series can carry. While a standard hover jeep can expect to survive being hit by at least some BattleMech scale weaponary, a Freedom that is hit is almost certain to cease to exist.

         Despite all these drawbacks, the Freedom is cheap enough that almost anyone can afford one, and almost any militia unit can afford to buy several of them. Most often seen in the Tikonov Free Republic, the Federation Expanse, the Capellan Rump States, and the Free Worlds League, they are the most common "name brand" competitor to the ubiquitous hover jeep, but many drivers still swear by their "no-name" vehicles and "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Earthwerks" bumper stickers are a common sight in the Human Sphere.