Largest Jeep is only for China
New photos of the Jeep Grand Commander, Jeep’s seven seat SUV for China. The Grand Commander will debut in April on the Beijing Auto Show and launch on the Chinese car market in May.
Price will range from 239.900 to 330.800 yuan ($38.120 – 52.580).
The Grand Commander is the production version of the Jeep Yuntu Concept. It is manufactured by the Guangzhou-Fiat joint venture. It will be positioned above the locally made Jeep Cherokee. Chinese name of the Grand Commander is Da Zhihuigan, literally Big Commander’.
In China, the Grand Commander will compete with cars like the Volkswagen Teramont, the Ford Edge, and the Toyota Highlander.
The interior is a bit of a disappointment, looking outdated already. There are simple analog dials and, wait for it… an 8 inch touch screen! Eight inch! Even Volkswagen got them bigger these days.
This is not good for Jeep. Chinese car buyers like their screens to be gigantic, even if they never really use them.
Another problem is that the Grand Commander will not be available with a V6, unlike its competitors. The Jeep is turbocharged 2.0 four-cylinder only: one with 234 hp and one with 265 hp, both mated to a nine-speed automatic, sending horses to all four wheels.
It is big though: 4873/1892/1738, and wheelbase is 2800.
Second row.
And third.
Trim levels include Summit, Longitude, and Limited. The car on the photos is a Summit.
It is a good looking car and it has the popular Jeep badge, but the low tech interior and the lack of a big engine will let the Grand Commander down in the marketplace. This new Jeep is going to be a hard sell.
I don’t think the Chinese consumer is lusting after V6 engines. The 2.0T versions are probably enough. However, the low tech interior is unfortunate for a vehicle released in 2018.
The lack of a big infotainment screen might be a bit disappointing, but the control knobs are an excellent control method for the volume, air temperature, etc.
Ford learned this the hard way a few years ago with it’s captivate touch buttons that were slow to respond and had not tactile feedback. They’ve since moved back to using large knobs for key functions, the new Dodge Ram also has a massive touch screen flanked by knobs.
The new Tesla has hardly any buttons or knobs, which is a huge mistake since it will require more attention from the driver than necessary for simple functions.