We might not have a lot of official information on the brand-new, and heavily panned by many readers for its odd-looks, 2014 Jeep Cherokee, but we can now further enlighten you on its exterior styling thanks to a raft of pictures that were released online today, and which you can check out, and, of course, comment on, right after the break.
We've yet to hear this from Chrysler Group officials, but a recent report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) stated that Jeep based the new Cherokee on a design borrowed from parent company Fiat's Alfa Romeo brand:
"The 2014 Jeep Cherokee, which makes its debut Wednesday at the New York Auto Show, is based on a design first developed for Fiat’s Alfa Romeo—a sharing intended to spare Chrysler hundreds of millions of dollars in engineering costs and shorten the time it takes to get new vehicles to market," said the report from WSJ.
However, the article doesn't elaborate on whether it means the actual design of the SUV (as in styling of the body etc.), or if it refers to the underpinnings of the new Cherokee, which is believed to be based on a modified version of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta-sourced chassis of the Dodge Dart.
We'll have full details on the 2014 Cherokee tomorrow from its New York Auto Show world premiere.
Update I: We've added new photos to the gallery, including official shots of the 2014 Cherokee's interior that is seen here for the first time.
Update II: The Chrysler Group issued a press release in which it confirms that the new Cherokee is indeed based on the Alfa Romeo-sourced Compact U.S. Wide (CUS-wide) platform that's also used on the Dodge Dart sedan.
Engine choices at launch will include a 2.4-liter four-cylinder Tigershark unit with 184 horsepower and 171 lb.-ft. of torque that returns up to an estimated 31 mpg highway fuel economy rating, and a 3.2-liter Pentastar V-6 engine with 271 horsepower and 239 lb.-ft. of peak torque, with a towing capability of 4,500 pounds. Both powerplants are linked to a segment-first, nine-speed automatic transmission.
We're also told that the new Cherokee will be available in four different flavors named, Sport, Latitude, Limited and the Trailhawk (pictured above), which is the most capable of the bunch.
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