The Jeep Grand Cherokee is reportedly set to lose its venerable V6 in favour of a smaller, more efficient four-cylinder powertrain, but there's still no word on whether it'll get the new Hurricane inline-six.
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Mopar Insiders reports word from insider sources that, for 2025, Jeep will replace the Pentastar 3.6-litre petrol V6 with an updated version of its turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, which already does duty in the Wrangler.
Also reportedly on the chopping block is the 5.7-litre Hemi V8, which Jeep parent Stellantis has been phasing out across its range.
The V8 has never been offered in the current WL-series Grand Cherokee in Australia, but has been offered in North America – though it was axed from shorter, two-row models there last year.
The move will see the Grand Cherokee exclusively offer four-cylinder engines. The flagship powertrain, offered only in the shorter, two-row body, is a turbo 2.0-litre plug-in hybrid four.
It's unclear whether Jeep will boost outputs of the turbo four for the large Grand Cherokee.
In the Wrangler, the GME-T4 four-cylinder engine produces 200kW of power and 400Nm of torque. That's 10kW less but 56Nm more than the Grand Cherokee's V6.
It's unclear if or when the Grand Cherokee will get Stellantis' Hurricane twin-turbocharged petrol inline-six, which has been replacing the long-running Hemi V8 in products like the Ram 1500.
The former global boss of Jeep, Christian Meunier, told CarExpert in 2022 that such a move was "feasible" but "a question of priority and potential business case".
Related to the GME-T4 used in the Wrangler and sharing its bore, stroke and cylinder spacing, the Hurricane six is available in multiple tunes and a plug-in hybrid version is planned.
In the larger Jeep Wagoneer L, it's available in 313kW/635Nm standard-output and 375kW/678Nm high-output tunes.
This engine would shape as a logical successor to the 5.7-litre Hemi V8. In high-output guise, it also out-punches the 6.4-litre V8 used in the hot SRT version of the previous-generation Grand Cherokee, which pumped out 344kW and 624Nm.
The current WL series is the first generation of Grand Cherokee to not offer the option of a diesel engine, with Stellantis moving away from oil-burners globally.
Content originally sourced from: CarExpert.com.au
