[o_swas]

@Dave Z somewhat innocuously dropped this little tidbit recently, and I can't tell if he was thinking aloud or sneaking an informed hint to us:

... but I've been wondering if Cherokee would sprout RWD and end up at New Mack...

(I thought there was another similar hint in another thread but I can't find it)

I was thinking the same thing recently. Will the next-gen Cherokee move to RWD layout? CUSW doesn't seem to be a long-term platform, and with the bundle of money spent on Giorgio, logic suggests that Cherokee may adopt the lessons of Giorgio for its next-gen platform.

Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on my part.

Relatedly, we're told that the new factory at Mack will make three row Jeeps. While that's certainly possible, could Cherokee be built there instead? If yes, why would it move, and if it did, what would be built in Belvidere? We all know how the old Chrysler wanted to use platforms so that plants could build multiple different vehicles.

Here's an off the wall thought: If both the next-gen Grand Cherokee and Cherokee use bits of Giorgio, is there any possibility that they could share production space? Perhaps some combination of three plants (Jefferson North, the new Mack plant, and Belvidere) could build any of the three products (Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, and three row GC?) for maximum plant flexibility and utilization?

I have no inside knowledge and don't know anything about production.

Thoughts or speculation?

 

[Dave Z]

Speculation, 100% pure speculation, as I was trying to figure out the plant. 'Course it could be FCA looking at Exploder figures and thinking they could sneak in there. JGC may get a price cut or new base model when the Wagoneer comes onboard (guessing!!!) to increase sales a bit, if the Cherokee thing doesn't happen.

Along those lines, I'd figure when Brampton comes back, it'll either have a crossover replacing the 300, (300C where C=Crossover?), or a midsize version of the Charger to fill that gap.

Also along those lines, I wonder if they ever considered renaming the 300 to match horsepower: “Do I want a 292C, a 390C, or a 475C? Maybe I want a 797C..."

 

[T_690]

Speculation, 100% pure speculation, as I was trying to figure out the plant. 'Course it could be FCA looking at Exploder figures and thinking they could sneak in there. JGC may get a price cut or new base model when the Wagoneer comes onboard (guessing!!!) to increase sales a bit, if the Cherokee thing doesn't happen.

Along those lines, I'd figure when Brampton comes back, it'll either have a crossover replacing the 300, (300C where C=Crossover?), or a midsize version of the Charger to fill that gap.

Also along those lines, I wonder if they ever considered renaming the 300 to match horsepower: “Do I want a 292C, a 390C, or a 475C? Maybe I want a 797C..."

Can Belvidere replace Brampton?

They have one option for JNAP which is still on the table. Alfa E SUV.

 

[Dave Z]

I had been assuming they would not “dilute” Alfa by producing at a Jeep plant!

 

[UN4GTBL]

A RWD Cherokee would be awesome

 

[LouJC]

We had one. The Liberty which was not nearly as bad as made out to be and with improvements in the interior and other details could have been much better. I drove a few late model Cherokees and sorry but I just can't take a FWD based Jeep seriously. I think the last version of the Liberty was seriously under-rated and if I needed a cheap Jeep I'd pick one up myself.

 

[valiant67]

With the Renegade and (especially) the Compass positioned as they are, there should be more to differentiate Cherokee than currently exists.

 

[Mr. Fusion]

A RWD Cherokee would be really great IMO, but what needs to go to Belvidere is the CUSW "Chrysler Grand Commander". Heck, they don't even need to wait for Cherokee to go away, I'll bet they have capacity there right now, even if Cherokee stays on for a while. I continue to not understand why FCA will not build this car that already exists and just needs to be homologated for North America.

Hey, you shouldn't have dragged-out the soapbox if you didn't want me to get on it.

 

[Ryan]

I’m wondering if the Chrysler Grand Commander is being postponed because they are wanting to phase out CUSW, but have no other platform to move it to. Could small-wide be scaled up that much? It wouldn’t need to fit a V6 engine, only the 2.0T. An evolution of Giorgio would be a poor option: that’s going to cut into 3-row Grand Cherokee sales and wouldn’t be as affordable or space efficient as people are expecting.

Maybe they were wanting access to Renault’s FWD architecture to build future Chrysler utility vehicles and minivans so they could cut out CUSW.

Aside from all that, I think moving the Cherokee to the RWD layout would be the right move.

 

[voiceofstl]

Motor Trend reports that the next Grand Cherokee will be on the Giorgio platform.

 

[cygnus]

Plans are coming together now for MY 2022 and 2023. No info yet, but a year from now we should know if the next gen Cherokee will be RWD.

 

[T_690]

Plans are coming together now for MY 2022 and 2023. No info yet, but a year from now we should know if the next gen Cherokee will be RWD.

Plans for new products from Italian and US during 2019-2021 calendar years are already out.

I don't know why are some insisting on MY. They are never used for plans.

 

[HD]

A RWD Cherokee would be really great IMO, but what needs to go to Belvidere is the CUSW "Chrysler Grand Commander". Heck, they don't even need to wait for Cherokee to go away, I'll bet they have capacity there right now, even if Cherokee stays on for a while. I continue to not understand why FCA will not build this car that already exists and just needs to be homologated for North America.

Hey, you shouldn't have dragged-out the soapbox if you didn't want me to get on it.

Agreed. Wonder if it might be sourced from China?

 

[T_690]

What will be produced in Toluca once when Compass for EMEA market switch to Melfi.

 

[Ryan]

With the Renegade and (especially) the Compass positioned as they are, there should be more to differentiate Cherokee than currently exists.

Compass can grow slightly in size if necessary to compete with the RAV-4, Equinox, and others, leaving the Cherokee free to become a higher-margin semi-luxurious RWD vehicle. Maybe it could also be produced alongside the RWD compact Dodge crossover.

 

[o_swas]

Compass can grow slightly in size if necessary to compete with the RAV-4, Equinox, and others, leaving the Cherokee free to become a higher-margin semi-luxurious RWD vehicle. Maybe it could also be produced alongside the RWD compact Dodge crossover.

Oooh, good point. No doubt Dodge needs more product, and that would be a good one. I've been thinking for years that Dodge could use a BMW X6 shaped crossover, as that would fit perfectly into the Dodge performance industry. As to the size of this mythical crossover, I don't know.

 

[Ryan]

Oooh, good point. No doubt Dodge needs more product, and that would be a good one. I've been thinking for years that Dodge could use a BMW X6 shaped crossover, as that would fit perfectly into the Dodge performance industry. As to the size of this mythical crossover, I don't know.

I believe it was supposed to be around the size of the Stelvio but I haven't seen anything about it shared in a while.

 

[T_690]

Oooh, good point. No doubt Dodge needs more product, and that would be a good one. I've been thinking for years that Dodge could use a BMW X6 shaped crossover, as that would fit perfectly into the Dodge performance industry. As to the size of this mythical crossover, I don't know.

Sales numbers have shown that Americans are actually in love with boxy SUVs, totally opposite with fake coupe SUVs.

 

[Ryan]

Sales numbers have shown that Americans are actually in love with boxy SUVs, totally opposite with fake coupe SUVs.

Coupe SUVs haven't really been offered in non-luxury brands. Honda Crosstour doesn't count IMO as it was before the SUV craze. If they were offered from non luxury brands I think they'd be much more common.

Personally, I love the coupe SUV body style but I also like the traditional SUV shape too.

 

[patfromigh]

I do wish we could get a Chrysler styled and branded version of the Fiat Fastback concept. We discussed this on other threads.