2014 Cherokee: Jeep’s bringing back an oldie with a space-age design

By Davis Adams March 1, 2013

Sure, Geneva may be next week, but the New York Auto Show is only a month away. Following a leaked image and some quick thinking, Jeep extended an early reveal of its 2014 Cherokee last week.

If the Wrangler is the icon for the Jeep brand, the Cherokee would be its runner-up. After all this mid-size SUV ran for nearly 20 model years without seeing a major design overhaul, and they’re still all over the road today. The the 2014 Cherokee takes a very different approach to the 1984 model’s original styling.

Rather than rehashing a now-classic design, Jeep decided to give the new Cherokee a dose of concept car styling. It’s such a vast diversion from what we’ve come to expect from typical Jeep design that we’re not sure what to think yet. The folks over at Jeep wanted a design that would continue to look contemporary a few years into the model production, which is why the vehicle doesn’t borrow many styling cues from historic models. However, the newer the better in our opinion, and we’re willing to call this new model “cool” for now.

Jeep hasn’t offered much information on the 2014 Cherokee, but we do know that it’s going to have significantly improved fuel economy over the previous model. That was 12 years ago, so the claimed 45 percent increase in MPGs doesn’t come as much of a surprise to us. It’s early for us to make too many assumptions about the new Cherokee, so stay tuned in the coming month as we prepare to see it in person at the New York Auto Show.

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