Jeep Earns Its Stripes Again!

You might say that Jeep — the battlefield workhorse of WWII — is earning its stripes all over again.

The most dramatic change at Chrysler Jeep has certainly been under the stewardship of Italian auto giant Fiat.

This week, Fiat gained full control of Chrysler, having already bought out the US Government’s share and taking the remaining 41 percent held by the United Auto Workers in a deal valued at $4.35 billion.

For the just released smaller Jeep Cherokee “wow factor” is the order of the day, sporting a lean and aggressive profile with muscular character lines. Most notably the signature 7-toothed Jeep front grill is smaller and horizontally kinked and the old Jeep debate about square or round headlamps has yielded to new high-tech LED wrap around eye-slit lighting assemblies.

The Cherokee Trailhawk 4 x 4 edition at $37,215 offers a ruggedly elegant interior and a blazing array of on-board tech. Best of all the Cherokee boasts sportscar-like road manners provided by an energetic 2.4 liter 184 horsepower TigerShark 4 cylinder engine. And yet this Jeep is clearly still tough enough to head for the off-road hills when duty calls!

This George Polgar of GT Marketing for KYW News Radio.