Jeep promises new seven-seat SUV to sit above Grand Cherokee

The boss of Jeep has confirmed that the iconic American automaker is preparing to add a seven-seat companion for the Grand Cherokee to its showrooms – and we should get our first look at it before year’s end.

Speaking to Auto Express, Jeep head (and chief of FCA) Mike Manley said while plans for the upper-large (and reportedly quasi-luxurious) Jeep Wagoneer are moving ahead as expected, the Jeep brand firmly intends to slot a three-row large SUV between it and the Grand Cherokee.

According to Manley, the three-row sub-Wagoneer Jeep “will technically play in the same segment as Grand Cherokee.”

“Roughly 60 percent of that segment is [for] three-row,” he continued “so Grand Cherokee has really only played in 40 percent. That will open up that part of the [large SUV] segment for us.”

Of the Grand Cherokee’s primary rivals, which include vehicles like the Toyota Landcruiser Prado, Land Rover Discovery and Mazda CX-9, the Jeep stands out for not having a seven-seat capability. For owners who may have a large family or merely need to occasionally carry extra passengers like in-laws or children’s friends, the additional utility of a third row is invaluable.

With question marks still hovering over the hulking Wagoneer’s suitability for the Australian market it appears that the as-yet-unnamed three-row SUV stands a stronger chance of coming here as Jeep Australia’s flagship model. However, it appears unlikely that it will be marketed as a Grand Cherokee variant, with Manley conscious of the need to preserve the Grand Cherokee as an appealingly-proportioned five-seat SUV – not a big-bummed personnel carrier.

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It’s also apparent that it will be an all-new model rather than a rehash of the only seven-seat Jeep currently in production – the Chinese-market Jeep Grand Commander. While fractionally longer than the Grand Cherokee, the Grand Commander is both narrower and lower and likely wouldn’t offer the cabin space desired by Western markets – though the power and torque outputs of its 2.0-litre turbo petrol (201kW and 400Nm respectively) are quite healthy.

What will we get instead? That’s still a closely-guarded secret, and besides Manley’s admission that something is indeed coming, the details are still scant. That said, expect to see Jeep’s mass-market three-row SUV debut later this year, possibly as a ‘concept’, along with a new-generation Grand Cherokee and the eagerly-anticipated Wagoneer.