The quiet, smooth, powerful, and fuel-efficient powerplant never sold well in the Grand Cherokee. Why? We feel that Jeep didn't market it correctly. Ask ten people who know cars about the GC diesel. Nine of them will ask, "What Grand Cherokee diesel?" Most people never knew that Chrysler had introduced this mill to the marketplace. Those who did, and went to purchase one, found that it was only available in the high-zoot Overland package, making the price of admission too much for the average Jeep purchaser.
What a shame. The 3.0 diesel was one of the best available today. Head and shoulders better than its older Liberty diesel sibling, the diesel Grand Cherokee performed unbelievably well. We wonder what this does to the plan for a diesel TJ retrofit kit? While the kit uses the less-capable Liberty diesel, it would still have sold faster than Jeep could produce the kits. We're not saying the kit is dead, but . . .
Jeep plans to pursue other fuel-efficient powerplants. This means we'll be seeing hybrids and other electric vehicles from Jeep. That's great, but we hope that Jeep builds 4-wheel drive electric Jeep vehicles, not the 2-wheel drive prototype we've seen.
Goodbye Jeep diesels. What a shame.