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

But what about a person of the originals, the Jeep Cherokee from 1974 with brochures that introduced a new term: the activity-utility motor vehicle? Currently, despite its Jeep badge and inclusion in the common compact SUV segment, the storied Cherokee has mostly fallen off buyers’ radar, marketing about 3,500 a month these times. Creation keeps dropping and the Belvidere, Illinois, plant has been dropping shifts and shedding employees.

So, where’s the really like? Or is Jeep placing the Cherokee out to pasture? We requested World wide President of the Jeep Model Christian Meunier and head of Jeep Brand name North The united states 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 section in The us and ideas are for the following-era Cherokee to be “even bigger and improved than at any time,” Morrison tells MotorTrend in an interview.

But never hold your breath. We is not going to see the sixth-gen Cherokee this calendar year, Morrison suggests. When it does get a significantly-needed update, it will have a ton of electrification, Meunier claims. The execs would not say if the following Cherokee will carry on to be supplied with an inner combustion engine. Jeep’s electrification program calls for the new small city Jeep (with a new nameplate) in the initial half of 2023, followed by a pure off-road SUV (believe Wrangler) and a family SUV to adhere to in 2024.

In the meantime, Cherokee profits were being down 34 per cent to considerably less than 90,000 in the U.S. in 2021 and barely strike 10,000 in the to start with quarter of 2022, which is 1-fourth of gross sales for the exact interval in 2021.

The Cherokee is caught in a downward spiral spurred by its advancing age and creation cuts. When semiconductor chips are in limited offer, the Belvidere plant is a person of the very first chosen for short term shutdown so chips can be rerouted to a lot more rewarding vehicles. Previous thirty day period Stellantis started out trimming the Belvidere workforce, making use of retirement offers and layoffs to decrease each hourly and salaried employees. That is immediately after the enterprise eliminated the second change at the plant final summer time.

The initial Cherokee was a re-launched and rebadged sporty two-door version of the Jeep Wagoneer, ushering in the era of the SUV as a counterpart to the Wagoneer wagon. For the next technology, the Cherokee moved to a new system the 1984 design went from physique-on-frame to unibody development. The boxy Cherokee is credited as the initial present day SUV with four doorways and served establish the segment and construct the Jeep manufacturer.

There was an outcry amongst fans in 2001 when the 3rd era was renamed the Jeep Liberty in North The united states, retaining the Cherokee identify in other markets. The Liberty title ongoing when the fourth-era Cherokee was redesigned in 2008.