2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUV Is New—But What Powers It Is (Mostly) a Mystery
The iconic nameplate has pushed upmarket in recent years, so will its engines finally do so, too?
Jeep is offering its first peeks at the 2026 Grand Cherokee, which will receive revised interior and exterior styling as part of a typical mid-life update. The current Grand Cherokee has been around since the 2022 model year, and is the first to offer plug-in hybrid, dubbed the 4xe, as well as a three-row variant, dubbed the Grand Cherokee L.
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Yet while it's been pushed upmarket—the midsize Jeep can be outfitted luxuriously and generally looks the part—it's lost a few things along the way, namely its available 5.7-liter V-8 engine, leaving most of the lineup powered by Chrysler's ancient and not terribly powerful Pentastar V-6. So even though the Grand Cherokee is a fine SUV—it's ranked second among other midsize SUVs according to our rigorous Buyer's Guide testing—and we eagerly await what Jeep has in store for its classy midsizer's cabin and sheetmetal, we're most interested in what's going on under the 2026 Grand Cherokee's hood.
But First, What Can We See?
Starting with the interior, Jeep's somewhat blurry image hints at a lot—mostly to do with the Grand Cherokee's array of displays. Today's model can be optioned with up to three dashboard displays; two are standard—the digital gauge cluster and the central touchscreen—with the third being a passenger-side screen with redundant audio, navigation, and media capabilities.
The 2026 Grand Cherokee appears to carry on the trio of screens, but they live in a new dashboard that shuffles some of the current version's audio and climate controls around and adopts a larger touchscreen. The moves are welcome, as they thrust some of the more commonly used bits higher up on the dash and more in the lines of sight, and hey, bigger screen.
Now, instead of the volume knob, tuning knob, and a confusing array of HVAC switches (including both buttons and rocker switches) sharing a cluttered, cramped space buried below the screen, practically in the center console's storage bin area, the physical audio controls now live on the touchscreen itself. The climate controls also rise, to a simple, clean row of apparently touch-sensitive buttons just below the screen itself that's easier to study and adjust at a glance. As a bonus, these moves open up that storage area at the base of the dashboard, making it easier to stash phones, keys, or whatever down there.
Given the extreme angle of the only interior photo Jeep provided so far, we'll reserve final judgement on the ergonomics of the new setup until we can sit in the 2026 Grand Cherokee for ourselves. Though the arrangement seems to be a big improvement, the bigger screen could erase some of those gains; the new all-electric Wagoneer S, for example, has a similar layout, and the entire left-hand bank of touch-sensitive menu shortcuts flanking the screen itself—along with the volume knob that lives in a similar space—is blocked from the driver's view by the right side of the steering wheel rim.
Grander Air Intakes for the Grand Cherokee
The only exterior image provided by Jeep shows the 2026 Grand Cherokee's nose, along with some odd reflections of foliage that makes it difficult to parse whether or not the hood or fenders are new. The wheel design pictured here is an existing style, offered on the range-topping Summit and Summit Reserve trim levels. We can see, zooming way, way in, that the wheel center cap no longer reads "Jeep" but instead has a little line drawing of an original World War II-era Willys Jeep, similar to the new 2026 Compass compact SUV that just debuted overseas.
Clearly, the air intakes are larger, and now flow into a sort of middle-ground intake strip. That intake, which lived between a lower intake and the seven-slat Jeep grille above, existed before—so no hard points appear to have changed—but previously it was visually linked to the central intake below it by a darkened strip. Now, the two central intakes are separated by a body-color element, and reshaped.
Also reshaped are the headlight surrounds, albeit with car mascara. Essentially, Jeep designers reshaped the trim surrounding each headlight, giving the effect of new peepers. Similarly, the seven-slat grille gets new, uh, slats, with a more technical appearance and trim that doesn't go all the way around each "slat" (before, each slat was represented by a little trim ring—that trim stays, but doesn't go the full circumference around each slat). Details, details.
But What's Under That Hood?
For starters, we'll share what we know for sure: The 4xe plug-in hybrid is sticking around. How can we tell? Other than Jeep telling us, zooming in, again, on the passenger-side display in the interior photo above, we spotted the same navigation search for EV chargers found in the Wagoneer S. Now, we don't think there's an all-electric Grand Cherokee around the corner. Instead, we think the version pictured here is simply a 4xe plug-in hybrid, which also can use public Level 2 chargers to top off its engine-assisting battery.
Switching gears to speculation mode, it's entirely likely that Jeep expands the 4xe option to the three-row Grand Cherokee L model; currently, it's only offered on the two-row Grand Cherokee. With Volvo's three-row XC90 sticking around a few more years, a Grand Cherokee L 4xe would make a great competitor to that luxury SUV's similar PHEV model.
The only remaining question is whether Jeep decides to ditch the old and not particularly smooth (or powerful, or fuel efficient) 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 that is the Grand Cherokee's only other engine choice today. As mentioned, the V-8 option went away a few years ago, though it could return; Jeep's corporate siblings, Ram and Dodge, appear to be bringing the Hemi V-8 back after similarly phasing their V-8s out in favor of EVs, so we don't see why Jeep wouldn't also take advantage of restarted Hemi production.
On the other hand, a lot of fans are hoping Jeep stuffs parent company Stellantis' new twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six into the Grand Cherokee (current version pictured above, in red). Doing so would elevate the SUVs to parity with luxury vehicles in terms of power output—between 420 hp and 540 hp sounds good, right?—and refinement, at least based on our experience with the Hurricane engines in recent larger Jeep and Ram products, particularly the 2025 Truck of the Year, the Ram 1500. It is not clear whether the longer Hurricane would even fit inside the Grand Cherokee, though we suspect that if the Hemi fits, it could be made to work.
Whether that level of surgery is in the cards for a mid-cycle refresh remains to be seen, especially given how Jeep has been working to lower the Grand Cherokee's price after raising it big-time during the pandemic and beyond. The iconic nameplate is at a crossroads, though—Jeep clearly designed it with luxury-market aspirations in mind, but the market seems to be telling Jeep that it doesn't necessarily want expensive Grand Cherokees (the mid-level Limited is the most popular trim next to the entry-level Laredo and its derivatives). Some Hurricane power, or the return of the mighty track-tuned Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, possibly with V-8 muscle, would go a long way toward justifying those upmarket aspirations. But we'll just have to wait to see what Jeep has in store when the 2026 Grand Cherokee fully debuts later this year.
A lifelong car enthusiast, I stumbled into this line of work essentially by accident after discovering a job posting for an intern position at Car and Driver while at college. My start may have been a compelling alternative to working in a University of Michigan dining hall, but a decade and a half later, here I am reviewing cars; judging our Car, Truck, and Performance Vehicle of the Year contests; and shaping MotorTrend’s daily coverage of the automotive industry.
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