Next-Gen Jeep Cherokee in the Works; Here’s What We Know

But what about one particular of the originals, the Jeep Cherokee from 1974 with brochures that launched a new expression: the sport-utility car? Nowadays, irrespective of its Jeep badge and inclusion in the well known compact SUV section, the storied Cherokee has largely fallen off buyers’ radar, offering about 3,500 a month these times. Production keeps dropping and the Belvidere, Illinois, plant has been dropping shifts and shedding workers.

So, where’s the enjoy? Or is Jeep placing the Cherokee out to pasture? We questioned International President of the Jeep Brand Christian Meunier and head of Jeep Brand North America Jim Morrison about the long run of the Cherokee.

The Cherokee however has a spot in the Jeep universe, they insist. It is in the No.1 segment in The us and strategies are for the subsequent-era Cherokee to be “bigger and much better than at any time,” Morrison tells MotorTrend in an job interview.

But really don’t hold your breath. We is not going to see the sixth-gen Cherokee this year, Morrison states. When it does get a a lot-required update, it will have a ton of electrification, Meunier claims. The execs would not say if the up coming Cherokee will proceed to be made available with an internal combustion engine. Jeep’s electrification system phone calls for the new compact city Jeep (with a new nameplate) in the very first 50 percent of 2023, followed by a pure off-road SUV (feel Wrangler) and a family members SUV to abide by in 2024.

In the meantime, Cherokee revenue have been down 34 per cent to fewer than 90,000 in the U.S. in 2021 and barely hit 10,000 in the to start with quarter of 2022, which is 1-fourth of profits for the very same period of time in 2021.

The Cherokee is caught in a downward spiral spurred by its advancing age and production cuts. When semiconductor chips are in small provide, the Belvidere plant is just one of the initial picked out for short term shutdown so chips can be rerouted to far more successful motor vehicles. Previous thirty day period Stellantis begun trimming the Belvidere workforce, utilizing retirement deals and layoffs to decrease both hourly and salaried personnel. That is right after the enterprise eradicated the 2nd shift at the plant final summer.

The 1st Cherokee was a re-released and rebadged sporty two-doorway edition of the Jeep Wagoneer, ushering in the era of the SUV as a counterpart to the Wagoneer wagon. For the second era, the Cherokee moved to a new platform the 1984 product went from overall body-on-body to unibody construction. The boxy Cherokee is credited as the to start with modern day SUV with four doors and helped establish the section and create the Jeep brand name.

There was an outcry among the fanatics in 2001 when the 3rd generation was renamed the Jeep Liberty in North The united states, trying to keep the Cherokee identify in other markets. The Liberty title continued when the fourth-era Cherokee was redesigned in 2008.