SPY PICS: 2018 Jeep Cherokee
The divisive front-end styling of Jeep’s mid-size Cherokee is about to get the flick with the arrival of a mid-life makeover in 2018Even the most intense study of these spy photos of Jeep’s refreshed Cherokee - undergoing on-road shakedowns around Detroit, Michigan – will not reveal much about the upcoming styling changes.
Industry experts are pretty much unanimous the mid-life makeover of the fifth generation Cherokee will jettison the opinion-polarising front-end which has shackled Jeep’s mid-sizer since its launch in 2014.
Extensive disguise cladding on this test mule ensures we can glean no definitive clue about what those front-end changes will be.
The only real indicator is that a single almighty aperture on each side will replace the twin outer slots for the cornering and “fog” lights of the current car but the disguise gives absolutely no clue about what Jeep is doing with the grille itself, or the upper headlight slits.
Some are speculating the grille will return to a more universally-acceptable, conventional shape, and the headlights will become larger to give a recognizably new look for the Cherokee.
At launch, Jeep claimed the current Cherokee looks the way it does to establish some visual distinction in the crowded mid-size SUV segment. With that goal achieved, the company is speculated to be planning a return to the mainstream.
For the update, less stylistic attention is expected to be focused on the Cherokee’s rear end, where the usual fiddles with tail lights and bumper mouldings can be expected.
As far as the driveline is concerned, there’s continuing speculation the new-look Cherokee will debut the new turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine also destined for the Wrangler, either as a replacement for, or as a supplement to, the current naturally-aspirated 2.4-litre powerplant.
Otherwise, all engines in the current Cherokee range will likely get power boosts, as well as improved efficiency.
Further, on top of rumours of a high-performance Trackhawk Cherokee in the works, it’s also being suggested a seven-seat version may materialise when the new-look model is launched in the US late this year, or early in 2018.
The actual date is said to be dependent on Jeep’s shifting of production from Toledo in Ohio to Belvedere, Illinois.
The new-look Cherokee looks a prospect for launching in Australia during 2018.
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