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The shooters at KGP Photography just caught what appears to be the first evidence of a diesel-powered ’14 Jeep Cherokee running on public roads outside of Chrysler's Tech Center. The test vehicle is wearing a prominent Diesel badge on its tailgate, just beneath the Cherokee's 4x4 badging. There is some wiring coming out of the Cherokee's engine bay, suggesting that engineers are monitoring the performance of what appears to be a new engine for the Cherokee range. Currently, the Cherokee is only available with gasoline engines—a 2.4L Tigershark four-cylinder and a 3.2L 24-valve V6—so the appearance of a clearly badged oil-burning Cherokee is a welcome sight.
The Cherokee's diesel badge differs slightly from the badge found on the Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel V6. Whether this signals a new, smaller diesel offering destined for the smaller Cherokee is unclear. Fiat has a range of JTD-series (uniJet Turbo Diesel) engines that could presumably work on an application such as the Cherokee.
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Photo credit: KGP Photography