Jeep has confirmed the India launch of the new Grand Cherokee and has announced that the SUV will be locally assembled. The Grand Cherokee will be the company’s fourth locally assembled model following in the footsteps of the Wrangler, Compass and the upcoming Meridian three-row SUV.
The new Grand Cherokee is available in two sizes — a standard 5-seater and a larger three-row L model, with the former coming to India. This will be the first time that the Grand Cherokee will be locally assembled here with Jeep saying India will be the first market outside North America to have the SUV locally assembled.
Compared to the previous model, the new Grand Cherokee follows an evolutionary design, with styling bits shared with its more premium sibling, the Wagoneer. The Grand Cherokee gets multiple screens on the dashboard, including a large 10.1-inch central touchscreen, a digital instrument screen and a dedicated touchscreen in front of the co-driver.
Jeep has confirmed the India-spec car will receive this third dashboard mounted display with other equipment such as a panoramic sunroof, leather upholstery, ventilated front seats, a heads-up display and a powered tailgate. More details on variants and equipment are expected to be released closer to the SUV’s launch later this year.
While the previous Grand Cherokee was available in petrol and diesel, the new SUV will be a petrol-only model. Jeep has not revealed engine outputs, but has confirmed the SUV will use a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine paired with an 8-speed automatic gearbox as standard. It remains to be seen if a diesel option could be made available at a later stage. As before, the Grand Cherokee will pack in four-wheel drive with selectable terrain modes — Auto, Sport, Mud/Sand, and Snow.
The Grand Cherokee will go up against luxury SUVs such as the Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5 and Land Rover Discovery in India.
Coming to the prices, the Grand Cherokee is expected to be positioned competitively with its rivals owing to it being locally assembled.
