2026 Jeep Grand Cherokee Revealed With New Turbo Engine and Refined Design - Autoblog
The new Hurricane engine is a 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder unit, the first introduction of a new, global engine that’s expected to power multiple Stellantis products.
With 324 horsepower and 332 lb-ft of torque, it’s easily more powerful than the standard 3.6-liter V6, which still produces 293 hp and 260 lb-ft. The new Hurricane is an advanced engine that debuts the first high-volume use of Turbulent Jet Injection, said to improve both power and efficiency.
I think what really caused such a divide was that in the not to distant past, EV's were being forced onto society when this technology is not ready to be a viable replacement for ICE.
Best example is the difference between my 2019 Ranger and when I bought a 2022 Ranger. The 2019 had sensors on the back doors so if the vehicle was locked the rear doors opened by touch as long as I had the Key fob on me which was a nice feature. The 2022 Ranger did not have it and the first time I tried to open the rear door nearly yanked my arm off that's not a good customer experience. They also cheapen the trim on the 2022 and change the ac power port covers to something that looked like they came out of JC Whitney catalog, and this was on a Lariat trim. The North American side is run by bunch of bean counters, after being in the Australian version of the Ranger Raptor it could not be more obvious. They took the rear air a/c vents off; they removed the grab handles that make getting in and out of the vehicle easier: they took the neat cup holder that are in front of the vents so you can keep your drink cold or hot depending on the weather: they took the auto 4wd out too in the lower trims below the Raptor. I could go on and on how Ford is removing features that would make the customers happier that the competition provides. 2026 Ranger Lariat they took even more out replaced leather seats with vinyl and took the fancy headlights off and put XLT base lights on it and went up on the price. So now the Lariat trim is an XLT with push button start with a price increase. The 2026 Ranger gets a sunroof option finally but only on the XLT and Lariat and the Raptor does not get one, really Ford who came up with that ideal. If Ford employees read this, please bring back the Red on the Ranger Raptor, Rudy Red would have look so nice on it, we did not need another Gray that they added. Sorry for the rant my favorite truck is treated like a stepchild here in North America. The Ranger could have been so much more and no I do not want a F150 I like the smaller size it fits the trails better. I guess the days are gone when they added features when they went up on the price.
Same Euro report from early 2020s that keeps going round and round, problem is European housing not able to do home charging due high percentage of on street parking …. All of this discussed in previous threads
I am not so sure Ford needs to compete in every class of truck to be successful in commercial vehicle sales. Sales of the Transit (primarily a commercial vehicle) alone are enough to make Ford a commercial vehicle leader, not to mention whatever percentage of F Series sales go to fleets. No one would say DTNA (Freightliner) as anything but a successful commercial vehicle manufacturer, and they offer nothing below class 6. Same for Volvo and PACCAR.
The fleet I work for has not bought a new class 6/7 Ford for over 10 years. The reason we stopped buying them had nothing to do with our faith in Ford not supporting the product, it's just we found a better alternative in Freightliner for our specific needs. We have looked at the F-650 a few times since for certain applications, so the truck is still being considered. In those 10 years however, we have bought many F-250's, F-550's, and Transits.
From what I understand (and someone please enlighten me if they have more sccurate information) Ford was very close to dropping the 650 and 750 when the 'Blue Diamond' joint venture with International came to an end, but a few Ford commercial vehicle dealers convinced Ford to stay in the class 6/7 market. Supposedly there wasn't much of a business case for the trucks, but by bringing their manufacture back in house, offering only Ford proprietary engines and transmissions, limiting options, and using old parts (cab), they might break even or make a small profit. I don't know at what point these 'heavy trucks' as Ford calls them are profitable but with the sales of the vehicles falling to below 800 uints/month one has to wonder. Nonetheless I believe the trucks are safe until the next UAW contract. Another point to consider is the Avon Lake plant, there were plans to build EV's there but that's all on hold. No way would Ford consider building the 650/750 in Mexico now with the tariffs.