Jeep Grand Cherokee to live on until 2021

The fourth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee has been a mainstay of the brand since its launch in 2011 – and it’ll have to keep up the good fight for another couple of years yet.

The large five-seat SUV – which competes in the same space as the Toyota Kluger , Mazda CX-8 and CX-9, Ford Everest the new Holden Acadia and many more – has been slated for retirement May 2021, according to powertrain sourcing documents in the US.

Jeep has already published a succession plan, though, with a traditional five-seat Grand Cherokee to be joined by a yet-unnamed seven-seat variant.

As well, a larger, more luxurious 4x4 range, to be known as the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, is slated to sit above (and be based on) the Grand Cherokee.

All will offer Jeep’s newly developed plug-in hybrid powertrains across various powerplants, including a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol, a six-cylinder Pentastar petrol and a petrol V8.

It’s likely that the next Grand Cherokee will see the debut of a new platform that will also underpin other Jeep products, including the 2022 Cherokee.

The current Grand Cherokee architecture can be traced all the way back to the Mercedes-Benz ML-Class of 2006, when Merc’s parent company Daimler owned Jeep’s overlord Chrysler.

While larger SUVs generally have longer shelf lives than passenger cars, the only car that’s older in the category is the Mitsubishi Pajero, which launched in its current guise all the way back in 2006.

The Grand Cherokee was once one of Fiat Chrysler Australia’s hottest properties, but sales have steadily slid 40 per cent down wards year on year from 2015, despite the addition of new models.

These have included the off-road focused Trailhawk, which was launched in 2016, and the fearsome 527kW Trackhawk – which is actually the third most powerful car on sale in Australia today, behind Lamborghini’s V12-powered Aventador and McLaren 720S.