The Jeep Grand Cherokee – How Branding Has Kept it Going for over 25 Years

Look around the highways and roadways of Canada and you’ll see more SUVs and crossovers driving around today than you will cars. The shift away from passenger cars and towards SUVs has been taking place gradually over the past decade. Proof of this comes from the fact that of the top 30 selling automotive nameplates in Canada in 2017, a full 15 of them, or half were SUVs.

The shift in consumer preferences has led automakers to look at their offerings and revamp their model lineups dramatically. Gone or going away are many full-sized sedans and in their place are a host of new SUVs offerings in a wide variety of sizes and formats. Perhaps one of the biggest indicators of this shift came when Ford announced earlier this year that in North America they are winding down and eliminating almost all of their passenger car models and replacing them with several new SUV models on top of the existing SUV line up they have today.

Through all this dramatic shift in preferences, its easy to forget that the SUV has been widely available in Canada for close to 30 years. While nameplates have come and gone in that time, there are some stalwarts who have remained a part of our automotive landscape from the beginning and are poised to stay that way going forward.

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Sterling Edition

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Sterling Edition

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is one such example as it has been in existence since 1993. The Grand Cherokee in fact was the first Jeep branded model that debuted following the purchase of American Motors by Chrysler in 1987. It famously made its debut to the world at the 1992 North American International Auto Show in Detroit when then Chrysler President Bob Lutz drove a new Grand Cherokee up the stairs of Cobo Hall and through a plate glass window just to demonstrate its rugged capabilities.

Those rugged capabilities matched with the ability to seat 5 people and tow the family boat or camper proved popular from the very beginning.  When the much larger Jeep Wagoneer was dropped in 1993 (but is said to be making a return in the next couple years) the Grand Cherokee became the signature nameplate for the Jeep brand. With the distinction now in place, successive generations of the Grand Cherokee have continued to reach upward with high-end versions that try to meld capability with luxury, and the results continue to be successful.

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Sterling Edition

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Sterling Edition

The current generation Grand Cherokee debuted as a 2011 model, which in automotive design terms is getting very long in the tooth. It’s commonplace to see all-new versions of nameplates emerging about every 5 years but save for some cosmetic design changes and some new engines, the current Grand Cherokee is heading into its 8th year of production. While an all-new Grand Cherokee is in the works and should arrive as a 2020 or 2021 model, sales of the current Grand Cherokee are bucking the trend by getting stronger instead of dropping as often happens with models that lack the wow factor of being something newer. In 2017 just under 17,000 units were sold in Canada making it the 25th best selling model in the country.  That represents a 13% jump from 2016 and is about double the amount of Grand Cherokee sales from a decade earlier.

So how is it that an aging model can so steadfastly maintain its strength in an era where new SUVs are coming online at a record pace? In some ways the strength of the Grand Cherokee run opposite to trends in automotive design, yet it doesn’t seem to hurt its success. In an era where fuel economy and carbon footprint reductions are paramount, the most recent powertrain addition to the Grand Cherokee was a 707 horsepower V8 monster that was given the trim name “TrackHawk”.

Perhaps the appeal of the Grand Cherokee lies in the fact that it isn’t trying to be like everyone else, and that for some a solid, capable and luxurious vehicle that is just as capable at the mall with kids as it is on the rugged 4×4 trails is exactly what they are looking for. Step into a high-end Summit trim level and your off-road jaunt to the secret beach you found is done amidst supple leather seating and a quality sound system. But more sales of the Grand Cherokee happen at the lower end Laredo, Limited and Trailhawk trims, so it can’t be luxury.  A 707 hp Trackhawk variant has a starting price of $110K which makes it a halo model and not a volume seller.

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Summit

2018 Jeep® Grand Cherokee Summit

The reality of the longevity and success of a brand like the Jeep Grand Cherokee is that it lies more in consistent branding and image control than anything else. There will always be a certain allure among people to have the capability to just hop into a vehicle and get away from it all, even if that requires heading over terrain that would make a little compact car turn the other way and hide. Chrysler has continued to focus on the emotional appeal of escapism and how the Grand Cherokee is the capable partner to do so, and it’s a strategy that will maintain loyalty regardless of competitive offerings or changes in other consumer preferences.  A hybrid Grand Cherokee is expected to be offered with the next generation model which shows that the engineering team is listening, and so long as you keep the branding consistent you can still make adjustments without having to worry about how consumers will respond to them.

A truism of economics is that consumers think with their heads but buy with their hearts. When automakers understand this, they create nameplates that thrive for generations such as the Jeep Grand Cherokee. When they don’t, they build Pontiac Aztecs.

Eric Novak

About Eric Novak

Eric Novak is a father of 4 who also thinks that environmental stewardship is a requisite of parenting. He's not a professional Dad nor is he an environmental scientist, but he's someone who gives a damn and is trying to make the right decisions as he lives his life as a father, environmentalist, part time professor and business owner. Eric has 4 children and resides in Ajax, Ontario.