Jeep Grand Cherokee

The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a mid-size SUV produced by the Jeep division of Chrysler. While some other SUV's were manufactured with body on frame construction, the Jeep Grand Cherokee has always used a unibody chassis.

Development

The Grand Cherokee's origins date back to 1983 when American Motors (AMC) engineers were designing a successor to the smaller Jeep Cherokee . Three outside (non-AMC) designers—Larry Shinoda, Adam Clenet, and Giorgetto Giugiaro—were under contract with AMC to create and build a clay model of the Cherokee replacement, then known as the "XJC" project. However, the basic design for the Cherokee's replacement was well under way by AMC's in-house designers and the 1989 Jeep Concept 1 show car foretold the basic design.

The Grand Cherokee was the first Chrysler-badged Jeep product. Development work for the new model continued and Chrysler employees (after the 1987 buyout of AMC) were eager for a late-1980s release date; however, CEO Lee Iacocca was pushing for redesigned Chrysler minivans, thus delaying the Grand Cherokee's release until late 1992 as an Explorer competitor. Unlike the Explorer, the Grand Cherokee utilized monocoque (unibody) construction, whereas the Explorer was a derivative of the Ranger pickup with a separate body-on-frame.

The Grand Cherokee debuted in grand fashion at the January 1992 North American International Auto Show in......
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