Two years ago, Jeep offered its Cherokee compact SUV in nine different trim levels. Last year, Jeep cut the lineup to four. This year, the Cherokee will be down to just two.
Jeep announced this week that its compact SUV will be available in the off-road-specialist Trailhawk trim or a jack-of-all-trades Altitude Lux 4×4 model. That’s it. The company hasn’t announced pricing. The 2022 Cherokee starts at $34,895, but we expect that price to rise slightly for 2023 because both trims have some luxury trappings.
The Altitude Lux gets a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine making 180 horsepower, sending power to all four wheels through a 9-speed automatic transmission. It gets heated Nappa leather seats, a heated steering wheel, piano black interior trim, and an 8.4-inch Uconnect infotainment screen.
The Trailhawk, instead, uses a 270-horsepower turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. The equipment list is similar. But it adds automatic high beam lights, an auto-dimming rearview mirror, a security alarm, and a universal garage door opener.
The venerable 3.2-liter Pentastar V6 offered on Jeep vehicles for more than a decade has disappeared from the Cherokee lineup.
If the number of trim levels seems to be trending toward zero, there’s a reason. Jeep executives have begun to tease the Cherokee’s replacement, which could come as soon as the 2024 model year. CEO Christian Meunier told Motor Trend last year that the next-generation Cherokee will have “a lot of electrification,” which could indicate an all-electric car like the Europe-only Jeep Avenger, or a plug-in hybrid like the Wrangler 4xe.
