SPY PICS: Facelift on way for Jeep Cherokee

This tarp-wrapped SUV fails to hide the fact it’s an upcoming Jeep Cherokee facelift. The question is – why so soon?

Following its international launch in late 2013, the current Cherokee was introduced to Australia in June 2014, so it has just come up for its first anniversary.

Immediate speculation would suggest that a facelift so early in the Cherokee’s life is a result of divided opinion over its styling. Shortly after its launch there was certainly no lack of personal opinions on the way the new mid-size Jeep looked – and the majority seemed to find it was, shall we say, unappealing.

The disguise doesn’t allow much to be seen, or speculated on, but there doesn’t appear to be much sign of any significant work at the front end, while the rear – which is arguably the least challenging aspect of the Cherokee’s design – is so ridiculously overworked that just about anything could be happening.

Sources say however that the revised Cherokee will get a redesign of the grille, a wider tailgate and wider front and rear tracks.

There could be some driveline work in the offing too. The suggestion is Jeep is working – like the Grand Cherokee – on a high-performance Trackhawk variant of the Cherokee using either a turbo four or a new V6, to rival the likes of Audi’s SQ5 and the upcoming Mercedes-AMG GLC.

There’s also speculation that a new 2.4-litre normally aspirated four-cylinder engine driving through the existing ZF nine-speed auto is on the way, although word is that won’t appear until sometime in 2017.

The facelifted Cherokee is expected to appear in the US market from early 2016, with the Australian launch following in the latter half of the year.

The current Jeep Cherokee’s questionable styling doesn’t seem to be reflected in Australian sales figures. On year-to-date figures so far this year, the Cherokee is travelling well with 4249 sales recorded as at the end of June. Even if this is well in arrears of Mazda’s CX-5 (12,489), Nissan’s X-Trail (9272) or Holden’s Captiva (8035), it is virtually lineball with Honda’s CR-V (4337) and Mitsubishi’s Outlander (4431), and ahead of the likes of Hyundai’s Santa Fe (3549), Volkswagen’s Tiguan (3526) and Ford’s Kuga (2098). Most importantly, perhaps, it's far and away a better number than the 625 units of the previous generation Cherokee sold during the first half of last year.