The V8 going bye-bye and a four-cylinder being swapped for a six-cylinder are nothing new; as Mopar Insiders notes, the Ford Explorer powertrain range starts with a 2.3-liter four-cylinder producing 300 hp and 310 lb-ft, and Jeep isn’t far off that with the turbo 2.0-liter in the Wrangler that makes 270 hp and 295 lb-ft. Offering the smaller mill as the only engine would be the surprise. Plenty of Grand Cherokee owners ready to trade in are waiting for news about the Hurricane inline-six joining the GC lineup. Jeep sold nearly 245,000 GCs in the U.S. last year, the second-best U.S. tally in the last 20 years, we’d say there’s no better model in the entire brand portfolio for the straight-six even if just the standard-output version.
The two- and three-row are supposed to get light updates for next year before a full-on redesign around 2027 that could see the Grand Cherokee move to Stellantis’ STLA Large platform from today’s WL platform. We’ll be looking forward to the official word from Jeep when the 2025 Grand Cherokee launches, and you can consider us surprised if Jeep doesn’t make mention of the Hurricane for that model year. We’ve written to Jeep to ask for comment, we’ll update the post if we get a response.
