After a multi-year hiatus, the Jeep Cherokee is officially back! And while the 2026 model will be a mid-sizer like the car it replaced, it will hit the showrooms of a very different Jeep brand operating in a challenging and unpredictable environment. Over at Stellantis, we hear they call that “Tuesday.”
But the market has changed considerably since we last saw a Cherokee. This time, it won’t be going it alone against a sea of cute ‘utes and dated competition. Toyota has a new Land Cruiser and a new 4Runner, Subaru and Honda have both gotten more serious about the off-road capabilities of their midsize two-rows, and Nissan says it will find a way to bring back the Xterra. Plus, being an SUV brand just isn’t special anymore. It’s 2025. They’re all SUV brands.
If you take a look at a Jeep showroom, you’ll find a bunch of people window shopping for Wranglers and Gladiators, but driving off the lot in Grand Cherokees and Compasses. Where Stellantis hasn’t spent the last several years pricing itself out of many mainstream markets, it has been forced to axe highly profitable, long-running products. The reasonably priced, midsize Cherokee will give Jeep dealers a third relief valve for buyers whose wallets force them to be more sensible than their hearts would otherwise allow.
But just because Jeep needs volume doesn’t mean its volume models necessarily have to be boring.
Jeep CEO Bob Broderdorf was eager to reassure us that despite that giant elephant in the room, the new Cherokee will indeed lean into the company’s 4×4 heritage. When asked about its future aspirations, Broderdorf assured us that not only will a Trailhawk happen eventually, but even the most basic Cherokee models will have the fundamental mechanical components needed to go off-road.
“It’s a Jeep,” Broderdorf said, with confident emphasis.
And while Cherokee arrives on the same new chassis as the company’s other midsize cars and SUVs, this is not going to be a primary outlet for the company’s electrification push, nor should we expect to see any of Jeep’s longitudinal powertrains in the midsize Cherokee. The four-cylinder hybrid is an east-west setup with a traditional mechanical transaxle and prop shaft going to the rear. In other words, no, that thang ain’t got a Hemi, nor should you expect one.
The only question Broderdorf wasn’t able to answer is “When?”
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