1992 Jeep Wrangler Base Sport Utility 2-door 2.5l on 2040-cars

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Supplier says Jeep Cherokee hack only affects FCA cars

Harman doesn't think that drivers need to worry about any further hacks of its products. The company supplies FCA's Uconnect infotainment system where a software vulnerability is responsible for a 1.4-million vehicle recall. "This experimental hack is unique to Chrysler," Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said to Automotive News. "This does not exist, to our assessment, in any other vehicle." The reason that the company wouldn't be involved is that automakers aren't simply plugging in the existing infotainment systems into new vehicles. According to Paliwal, Harman supplies the unit, but FCA and other automakers are able to make additional modifications for their vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has also recently taken up the question of broader software vulnerabilities in Harman's products. On July 29, the agency began investigating the company to check for similarities between Uconnect and the infotainment systems supplied to other automakers. The Jeep hack became national news when two researchers were remotely able to take control of a Cherokee. The vulnerability in the cellular connection even gave control over the brakes. "Once people get in the car and get into the CAN bus, then you can start to mimic and mess up many, many things in the car," Paliwal said to Automotive News. Politicians immediately responded with legislation to create federal standards in hopes of protecting drivers better. NHTSA also opened an investigation to make sure the automaker's software update actually solved the problem. Related Video:

Jeep reportedly releasing Peugeot-based, Fiat-built baby 'ute in 2022

Jeep is now under the same Stellantis-branded roof as Peugeot, among other European carmakers. It will take full advantage of its new ownership to quickly develop and launch an entry-level car, according to a new report. Anonymous sources told industry trade journal Automotive News that the yet-unnamed model will be positioned directly below the Renegade. Rumors of a baby Jeep have popped up time and again in the past few years, and most claimed it would share its underpinnings with the Fiat Panda 4x4, an immensely capable city car that's a regular sight in the Alps. Those plans have allegedly changed; the soft-roader is now being designed around the Common Modular Platform (CMP) that underpins the Peugeot 208 and the Citroen C4, among other models. Using the CMP platform unlocks several benefits. It's much newer than the architecture found under the Panda, it's highly modular, and it was developed with gasoline, diesel, hybrid, and electric powertrains in mind. It sounds like the first Peugeot-based Jeep will come standard with front-wheel-drive, and it will offer an optional four-wheel-drive powertrain consisting of a longitudinally-mounted engine that will spin the front wheels and an electric motor that will put the rear wheels into motion. Odds are the motor will be capable of powering the crossover on its own, too. Most of the powertrain components will come from Peugeot. CMP wasn't designed for hardcore off-roading, so we're expecting more of a shrunken Renegade for the boulevard than a downsized Wrangler for the trail. Fiat will build Jeep's smallest model in Tychy, Poland, in a factory that currently churns out the Fiat 500 and the Lancia Ypsilon. Production is tentatively scheduled to start in 2022, and it's too early to tell if we'll see the crossover in America. Its pocket-sized dimensions might keep it away from our shores. It will certainly increase Jeep sales on the European market, where models that sell relatively well in the United States regularly post dismal sales figures. For example, the Grand Cherokee is a seen as a leviathan of a family hauler and the Wrangler is heavily taxed. Peugeot's CMP platform will allegedly underpin the production version of the Alfa Romeo Tonale concept, too. Pegged below the Stelvio, the crossover was originally developed on the Renegade's bones — some sources claim that's still the case, and Alfa Romeo hasn't shed light on the matter. Reportedly, Fiat will later get a CMP-based car.

Jeep Cherokee won't get diesel until sales of oil-burning Grand Cherokee improve

Okay Jeep fans, you want more diesel options? Time to step up and prove it. The only way Jeep will offer a diesel powerplant in the Cherokee, according to brand head Mike Manley, is if sales of the Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel nearly double.
Currently, about eight percent of the Grand Cherokees sold feature the 3.0-liter, EcoDiesel V6. That's simply not enough to warrant the bringing an oil-burning Cherokee to the US market, despite the vehicle's presence in Europe, where it's sold with a 2.8-liter diesel V6.
"Cherokee is slightly different because of its weight and size. When I think about bringing Cherokee diesel here, I would like to see Grand Cherokee diesel get much higher than eight percent," Manley told Automotive News. "It would have to be in mid-double digits."