Attention, off-road fan: the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is back! Well, almost. Since Jeep discontinued its 4xe plug-in hybrid powertrain, the 4×4-centric model has been absent from the lineup entirely. That absence will officially end later this year, Jeep announced Friday.
Jeep’s ongoing Grand Cherokee motor makeover had the unfortunate side effect of sidelining the only Grand Cherokee with serious off-road chops. Clearly, this means the Trailhawk will return with a different powertrain. But which one? Jeep didn’t say. In fact, Jeep didn’t say much at all about the vaguely cropped teaser image:
“Today, we are excited to confirm that the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trailhawk is coming later this year,” the company’s statement said. “Attached is your first look at the Trail Rated model as the brand continues its new product blitz with valued Jeep content, capability, and more, as a reflection of the brand’s purpose-built identity.”
Realistically, this could go a couple of different ways. This generation of the Grand Cherokee has been sold with the Pentastar V6, the Hemi V8, the 4xe plug-in hybrid and, most recently, the new “Hurricane” inline-4. The 4xe is dead; that’s why we’re in this mess to begin with. That leaves the I4 and V6, both of which are currently in production, along with the currently dormant Hemi V8—the return of which Jeep has already teased.
We don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up, but consider this: the 4xe effectively took the place of the Hemi in the Grand Cherokee lineup. It was the big-power, big-torque engine that ended up being fitted to the most interesting model. This one.
If you were Jeep and you wanted to make the biggest splash possible without breaking the bank, which model would you launch it in?
Yep, our thoughts exactly.
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