WL series redesigned Grand Cherokee will not provide diesel engines, but Jeep car reckons it will still have broader appeal than its WK2 predecessor.
It relies on people who have ever owned a diesel engine to think long and hard about their capabilities really However, need with the new model, as it will only be petrol or plug-in hybrid.
“Without a doubt, we will have some diesel customers who will have to rethink and figure out what they really need,” said Jeep Australia CEO Kevin Flynn.
“And most likely the car still has 2800[kg braked towing capacity] will still be enough for them to pull what they need to pull adequately. “
Mr. Flynn said the 3.0-liter turbo-diesel V6 accounts for about 57% of the total. Grand Cherokee combined for years, but things are “moving very quickly away from diesel.”
So equipped, the outgoing WK2 Grand Cherokee has a quoted brake drag of 3500kg, suitable for other large, diesel-powered off-road vehicles such as Isuzu MU-X and Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series.
In contrast, the new WL has a brake drag of 2813kg in the Night Eagle and Limited versions and 2268kg in the Summit reserve.
With the redesigned WL, Jeep replaced not only the diesel but also the optional 5.7-liter Hemi V8, though the latter is still available in North America. There it has a quoted towing capacity of 3266kg.
“But the point is, with WL, it opens up a much larger niche anyway, because before that, we weren’t in a three-row, seven-seat market,” continued Mr. Flynn.
“The last thing we wanted to do was lose our customer base – but in reality, the arrival of WL and our launch of the third row only opened up a segment where we had previously failed to do so. non-competitive”.
In the large and upper-class SUV segments in Australia, the lack of a diesel engine will leave the WL Grand Cherokee underdog.
Vehicles such as Ford EverestIsuzu MU-X, Toyota LandCruiser and LandCruiser Prado and Volkswagen Touareg Available with diesel only, while many premium models in the Grand Cherokee L range in terms of price offer a diesel option – for example: BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE – offers one or more diesel engine options.
The longer Grand Cherokee L – the only WL Grand Cherokee trim that will be available until two-row seats in the first quarter of 2023 – is the first three-row Jeep to go on sale in Australia since the Commander was derailed. released in 2010.
Jeep also did not offer a three-row vehicle in its home market of America during that time, although it did introduce a three-row vehicle based on the Cherokee. Commander crossover in China in 2018 and this year revealed the vehicle based on the Compass Meridian / Commander for markets like India and Latin America.
Jeep has moved away from diesel and towards electrification, with a dwindling range of diesel engines and an ever-growing range of new plug-in hybrid 4xe engines.
Dead globally are the diesel variants of the Grand Cherokee (limited dealer numbers of the upcoming WK2 remain) and Cherokee.
Demand for diesel engines is dwindling in Europe, which was once a huge market for this type of powertrain. However, diesel-powered versions of models such as Extend and Locality Still available in some European markets.
By contrast, Jeep in the US market – where diesels have been a niche player for decades in cars and SUVs – offers a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 diesel in Wrangler and Fighter.
Only Compass diesel engines are offered in Australia, with the Trailhawk being the only diesel option in Jeep’s local lineup.
While diesel isn’t officially dead in Jeep yet, it’s clear that the baton is being carried over to electric and electric vehicles.
Jeep Australia will introduce its first plug-in hybrid model in the first quarter of 2023 with the Grand Cherokee 4xe, based on a shorter two-row body style.
This isn’t the brand’s first plug-in hybrid, however, with 4xe versions of the Compass, Renegade and Wrangler available in other markets.
One Fighter 4xe is also In the workwhile the Commander PHEV in the Chinese market is the first plug-in Jeep to launch in 2020.
Jeep has confirmed that it will only sell electric vehicles in Europe by 2030 and has teased a New small electric SUV to launch there in 2023.
Last year, in the framework of Stellantis EV Day, a few Jeep electric vehicles based on the STLA Large architecture were tease in wireframe: one is a boxy, solid four-wheeler, the other is a sleeker crossover.
THAN: Jeep committed to local testing, two-row Grand Cherokee underway
THAN: Jeep Grand Cherokee: Five-seat model, PHEV to debut in early 2023
THAN: Everything Jeep Grand Cherokee
