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Sixth-Gen 'KM' 2026 Jeep Cherokee Looks Refreshingly Rugged When Dwelling Around CGI Lands

2026 Jeep Cherokee rendering by vburlapp 133 photos
Photo: vburlapp / Instagram
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Late last month, Jeep took over the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell and honor the start of the reservation process for the company's first global all-electric vehicle - the 2024 Jeep Wagoneer S. They also presented the Trailhawk concept based on it, showing there's an electric off-road future for the brand.
Slowly but steadily, the Jeep brand is going back to its tough, rugged, practical, and sometimes luxurious roots. They are cutting down the bad branches in America, like the Renegade, and the rest of the lineup will be trimmed for added modern roughness, as all vehicles in the family will be electrified by 2025. As for the family itself, after the Wagoneer S comes the all-electric Recon, and then – according to the rumor mill, it's time for the little ones.

Numerous rumors and reports exist about the impending apparition of the third generation 2025 Jeep Compass hybrid or EV as a bigger model twinned with the European Peugeot 3008 and Opel Grandland on the new STLA Medium platform. Aside from growing a few inches, the third iteration will also gain hybrid or even all-electric powertrains since the architecture easily accommodates both.

But wait, that's not all in the compact Jeep field. Instead, the rumor mill questioned Jeep's CEO, Antonio Filosa, who confirmed the next-generation Cherokee for 2025 – most likely as a 2026 model year. It should come with gasoline and hybrid 4xe power from the onset, but no one knows what it will look like aside from the company's corner office head honchos.

No worries, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators likes to speculate way in advance of the official introductions. For example, Vince Burlapp (aka vburlapp on social media or burlappcar.com) is a prolific virtual artist who loves to dream of all the latest models across the wide-ranging automotive realm, and he recently had some thoughts on the potential of the 2025 Jeep Compass entry-level CUV.

Now, he's also passing CGI judgment on the discontinued Jeep Cherokee. Along with depicting an illustration depicting the hypothetical 2026 Cherokee looking all fancy, modern, and tougher than before, the pixel master also thinks that the all-new model will use the STLA Large platform along with the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona and 2025 Charger Sixpack, as well as the Jeep Wagoneer S and Jeep Recon.

The 2026 Jeep Cherokee might be the smallest model based on the big architecture, and because the setup allows both ICE and EV models to coexist, the author thinks the specialty automaker will pit it not just against hybrid crossovers like the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V Hybrid but also against successful all-electric products such as the Tesla Model Y or the upcoming Rivian R2. What do you think?


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Editor's note: Gallery includes additional Jeep design projects by the same author and official images of the discontinued Jeep Cherokee.

About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution.
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