Sergio Marchionne, president of car maker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, told reporters at the Detroit Motor Show that the next generation of the Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV will inherit the Giorgio platform from the Alfa Romeo Giulia sedan and Stelvio crossover. Moreover, now a fully functional prototype of the new Cherokee is almost ready, and if the tests run smoothly, the model will be put on the conveyor in 2018 or 2019.

According to Markionne, the next generation of Grand Cherokee is a completely “natural” application for the new Alfa Romeo platform and its further evolution, and in the next 60 days, FCA engineers will provide a conclusion on possible difficulties or vice versa on the full “green light” for the project. Also, according to Markionne, this development will be one of the key milestones in the history of the brand Jeep.

According to the initial plans, the new Grand Cherokee was supposed to be available in 2017, but a year and a half ago it became known that the development process of the model was stretched and its debut was postponed to a later date.

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