The Jeep Cherokee has been taken out of production, while the Jeep Grand Cherokee is still being manufactured.
A few short months later, Stellantis provided The Drive with confirmation that the plant in Belvidere, Illinois where the Jeep Cherokee is manufactured is currently idle and will soon be entirely shut down.
The Jeep Cherokee, which had two doors and was based on the Wrangler chassis, was the first sport utility vehicle (SUV) to be produced in 1974. In due course, it transitioned into a unibody, a configuration that would go on to change the market for SUVs.
The likelihood of Jeep permanently withdrawing from the market for midsize SUVs is almost 0%, but the company is planning to introduce the new generation of the Jeep Cherokee very shortly. In a statement given to Motortrend, the company that makes the Jeep brand said, “We will make an announcement in due course on the next generation Jeep Cherokee.” By the year 2025, all of the [now available] vehicles under the Jeep brand will be electrified, and there will be four models that produce no emissions in both North America and Europe.
It is unknown whether or not the Cherokee will be electrified, but it is evident that this leaves the door open for the possibility.
Cherokee is still in production today, at least in part thanks to Jeep’s Grand Cherokee, which is also still in production. However, the Cherokee Nation in the United States has requested that Jeep cease using the Cherokee name by the year 2021.