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2026 Jeep® Cherokee (KM) Drops More Camouflage

2026 Jeep® Cherokee (KM) Drops More Camouflage​

Hybrid Power and Classic Jeep DNA Come Together in This New SUV​


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After months of heavy camouflage testing in Metro Detroit, the upcoming 2026 Jeep® Cherokee (KM) is shedding more of its disguise, giving us the clearest look yet at its design. The latest prototype sightings confirm that the next-generation Cherokee is set to deliver a hybrid-only powertrain while staying true to Jeep’s legendary four-wheel-drive (4×4) DNA. With a more traditional SUV shape, advanced technology, and a spacious interior, the Cherokee is shaping up to be an exciting new addition to the lineup.

 
V6 or V8 is completely gone in A-D segments unless it's $70K+ vehicles from European OEMs for performance models. V6 is holding out in E-segment Unbody vehicles in the Passport and Explorer.
 
The same people on this forum love to point out time and time and time again how the demographics for anything other than electric and 0.3 liter engines are dinosaurs. Well got news for you, check the income levels of all your demographics. Us old geisers are on our way out, and also buy a hugely disproportionate number of vehicles compared to the youngins. Because we’ve busted our hinneys and now have the funds. And we like big engines. Don’t really care what the others are installing in their cars, typical TYPICAL Jeep buyers are gonna prefer to at least have an option for a traditional bigger displacement ICE. Notice how I even used one of those fancy new acronyms there. Not bad for a geiser.
 
The same people on this forum love to point out time and time and time again how the demographics for anything other than electric and 0.3 liter engines are dinosaurs. Well got news for you, check the income levels of all your demographics. Us old geisers are on our way out, and also buy a hugely disproportionate number of vehicles compared to the youngins. Because we’ve busted our hinneys and now have the funds. And we like big engines. Don’t really care what the others are installing in their cars, typical TYPICAL Jeep buyers are gonna prefer to at least have an option for a traditional bigger displacement ICE. Notice how I even used one of those fancy new acronyms there. Not bad for a geiser.

Precisely. I have money. Absolutely zero vehicles interest me except for the 2026 Honda Passport. I have never bought a non-Big 3 vehicle in my life, but they've left me no choice. The Big 3 are run by intellectual midwits and political back-biters instead of people that can tell the government to shove it and paying the fine or ignoring them, like Musk has done with NHTSA and the insanity that is FSD. I like how Musk treats bureaucrats (ignores them) but I would never buy a Tesla or ever sit in a Tesla where someone has FSD enabled.

I never thought I'd see the day a Japanese OEM had more cahones than than the the Big 3 with the 2026 Passport continuing on with a V6 for a new vehicle introduction in 2025.
 
Back to the topic at hand - the 2026 Cherokee 1.6L MHEV will be absolutely bodied by a 2026 Rav4 with a 2.5L MHEV.

I keep telling people this - this company does not have the chops to compete in the A-D segment in the US. Just stop selling A-D segment vehicles in the US.
 
Cygnus introduced Passport into this thread.
That explains it, let me guess complain there is no V8, or underpowered V6....... PEOPLE DON"T CARE .... They care if it take gas, if the push the pedal how fast it goes, and what kind of Gas Mileage. The Highlander will have neither and will outsell the Honda. I would guess it will drop the pure ICE by 2026. Capacity is down because they are sell the Crap out Camry that has no torque converter to make the point.

That said the JGC should very much get Hurricane6, but demanding the old lumps when the GME2 2.0 is going to be north of 330 hp is pretty funny.

Those that equate performance the cylinder count are aging out of the market.
 
That explains it, let me guess complain there is no V8, or underpowered V6....... PEOPLE DON"T CARE .... They care if it take gas, if the push the pedal how fast it goes, and what kind of Gas Mileage. The Highlander will have neither and will outsell the Honda. I would guess it will drop the pure ICE by 2026. Capacity is down because they are sell the Crap out Camry that has no torque converter to make the point.

That said the JGC should very much get Hurricane6, but demanding the old lumps when the GME2 2.0 is going to be north of 330 hp is pretty funny.

Those that equate performance the cylinder count are aging out of the market.

They do care. It's what actually gave this company a brief, bright future from 2010-2019. Otherwise - good luck competing against Toyota with your four bangers vs theirs, STLA's marginal build quality, and crap dealership experience.

What's more likely and less expensive to achieve - going out on a limb and approving the powertrain design for a decent V6 or V8 E segment vehicle that makes this company a profit, or this company achieving best in class vehicle build quality and dealership experience to compete against GM/Toyota/Honda/Ford, head to head, with four bangers?

There are serious, pragmatic reasons why this company is wedded to success via V6/V8s - because it actually happened. Everything that you're wishing / wanting this company to be ends up with this company flailing and failing and being sold for pieces. You have to look at the logical endgame for where four bangers and EVs ends up doing to this company, in the US.

Facts -

1) This company cannot and will not ever compete and succeed against GM/Toyota/Honda in the four cylinder, low displacement ICE or MHEV segment in the US
2) This company cannot and will not ever produce profits for anything that isn't frame or E-segment based in the US
3) This company cannot and will not ever produce profits for anything that isn't a V6, V8 (cheap, tooling is paid for and can sell in whatever quantities you're able to produce if you can restart engine production quickly enough between now and 2028) in the US

How do I know this? Because 2010-2019 happened (when times were good), and results from 2020-2025, when you take out Covid era dealership markups and remove the V6/V8 vehicles, are off to a really bad start. This company lost $1.8 Billion in the US in the 2nd half of 2024.

TBD on whether this company can capture lightning in a bottle with the I6 with the Charger, or any other STLA Large vehicle that has the I6 in it...I think the next vehicle that will have the I6 is probably the upcoming Durango in 2026 Followed by the Grand Cherokee in 2027. TBD on how many Ramchargers series hybrids they can build and sell.
 
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This Cherokee is a tweener, larger than rivals falling into larger than average category in an effort to poach sales from vehicles like Rav 4 and Equinox.
with Compas being larger than average, this is a good choice but may harm Grand Cherokee sales. FCA US is still a terrible mess appearing unable to offer complete line ups. Brands like Opel has vehicles for rebadge that would sell in the US
 
This Cherokee is a tweener, larger than rivals falling into larger than average category in an effort to poach sales from vehicles like Rav 4 and Equinox.
with Compas being larger than average, this is a good choice but may harm Grand Cherokee sales. FCA US is still a terrible mess appearing unable to offer complete line ups. Brands like Opel has vehicles for rebadge that would sell in the US
Those vehicles would not sell, and be money losers.
 
Badge engineered Opel products flopped badly when GM tried it here not that long ago. The only way forward for the legacy Chrysler Corp brands is to take a STLA platform; then design, style, and build it in North America. The engines and transmissions should be built here as well. The transmissions don't necessarily have to be in-house manufactured, ZF is a good example of that type of supplier relationship.

The exception to this idea are the Ram ProMaster vans. The large one is a success, but it uses an American built engine and transmission. There also were various modifications made for durability under our driving conditions.
 
Jeep is using the new Cherokee to fill a hole between a Grand Cherokee and a Wagoneer? There is no hole there. The hole is between the Compass/Renegade and the Grand Cherokee. I fear this will be a colossal miss. Sheesh.
 
Jeep is using the new Cherokee to fill a hole between a Grand Cherokee and a Wagoneer? There is no hole there. The hole is between the Compass/Renegade and the Grand Cherokee. I fear this will be a colossal miss. Sheesh.
Sorry, that is incorrect the gap is between the Compass and JGC it will compete directly with the now large CRV and now larger RAV4
 
Badge engineered Opel products flopped badly when GM tried it here not that long ago. The only way forward for the legacy Chrysler Corp brands is to take a STLA platform; then design, style, and build it in North America. The engines and transmissions should be built here as well. The transmissions don't necessarily have to be in-house manufactured, ZF is a good example of that type of supplier relationship.

The exception to this idea are the Ram ProMaster vans. The large one is a success, but it uses an American built engine and transmission. There also were various modifications made for durability under our driving conditions.
Anything FWD bias shouldn't have a transmission it should be attached to an inverter, but I fear instead we will get that awful Punch system instead, back to your theory on should be FCA legacy powertrain or NA developed.
 
Thee FCA legacy hybrid transmission for the front drive EU products is the Magna 7-speed dual clutch. The 4Xe models use something different, I can't remember the supplier. The PSA PHEV vehicles used an Aisin single motor hybrid transmission that is as close to being a range extender generator as one can get in a hybrid without crossing the line. A single motor provides both power and battery charging when the IC engine is running. That particular e-motor has as much power as the standard e-motor setup in the new Smart platform based electric vehicles. Basically, the Aisin unit was replaced by either pure electric or the Punch. A "new" hybrid system and new EV models contribute to to an executive bonus, superior technology from established suppliers apparently doesn't.
 
Thee FCA legacy hybrid transmission for the front drive EU products is the Magna 7-speed dual clutch. The 4Xe models use something different, I can't remember the supplier. The PSA PHEV vehicles used an Aisin single motor hybrid transmission that is as close to being a range extender generator as one can get in a hybrid without crossing the line. A single motor provides both power and battery charging when the IC engine is running. That particular e-motor has as much power as the standard e-motor setup in the new Smart platform based electric vehicles. Basically, the Aisin unit was replaced by either pure electric or the Punch. A "new" hybrid system and new EV models contribute to to an executive bonus, superior technology from established suppliers apparently doesn't.
Instead of Punch... .which We will years hear about what POC it is like the Jatco. They should have left the EV motor and added I Inverter to the ICE powerplant. JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE.
 
A 1.6L I4 hybrid in a vehicle that is reported to be about the same size as the Grand Cherokee 2-row is a deal breaker. A 3.0L Hurricane I6, even a detuned version with a single twin-scroll turbo replacing the twin turbos, with mild hybrid tech would be perfect. And how is the Cherokee slotting between the Compass and the Grand Cherokee 2-row when, again, it's reported to be about the same size as the Grand Cherokee 2-row? Seems the new Cherokee will be competing with the Grand Cherokee 2-row.
 
Well, that's why they won't be cross shopped. They think that anyone that eliminates that 1.6L MHEV from buying consideration should just move up to a ICE GME-T4 EVO in the 2026 Grand Cherokee.

They're wrong - the vast majority existing CDJR buyers want neither of these powertrains. Like I said - this is going to be bad for two or three years, maybe longer, to undo what Tavares has done. US Jeep won't be fixed until 2027 at the earliest, when maybe the next Grand Cherokee will get the 3L I6. And maybe the next MCA of the Wagoneer, in 2028, will get the Gen 4 Hemi.

Dodge has the 3L I6 exclusively until then, in the Charger for now, and for the next Durango in late 2026 or early 2027. The earliest that these issues can be fixed for US Jeep is the next Jeep refresh wave in 2027/2028 can fix these powertrain issues. The next 2-3 years are in the oven already, unfortunately.
 
Larger KM would be good, but I'm sitting on the side lines for a couple years to see if this sorts itself out.

1.6L MHEV is not something I would want in this.
Updated Pentastar MHEV sure
 
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