Jeep Website Spills the Beans on 2026 Cherokee Specs Before Its Reveal
The consumer site for the new compact SUV says it will have a hybrid powertrain with a 1.6-liter gas engine and 38 mpg combined.
2026 jeep cherokee
Jeep
Jeep shared details about the 2026 Cherokee’s new hybrid powertrain, which will provide an estimated 38 mpg combined.
This new hybrid setup comes standard with all-wheel drive and a 1.6-liter gasoline engine.
We expect the new Cherokee to debut soon, and Jeep says it will go on sale late this year.
Jeep has already revealed the first photos of the new 2026 Cherokee, and now the company’s consumer website has published some new details—accidentally or not—about the compact SUV’s hybrid powertrain ahead of its official reveal.
We now know that the Cherokee will be powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder hybrid powertrain and that it will come standard with all-wheel drive. Jeep says that this new gas-electric setup uses a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four and that it will provide 38 mpg combined. We don’t yet have power figures, but this model will compete with the Honda CR-V Hybrid and Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, among other compact-SUV hybrid models. The Cherokee will also offer a towing capacity of 3500 pounds, and Jeep’s Active Drive I 4×4 system will be standard across the board. Trim levels will include base, Laredo, Limited, Overland, and Trailhawk models, with the latter providing extra off-road equipment.
Jeep
So far, we’ve seen images of the 2026 Cherokee in blue and green, and Jeep provided a list of available colors that includes Bright White, Silver Zynith, Baltic Gray, Diamond Black, Hydro Blue, Red Hot, and ’41 (military green, pictured at the top of this story).
We should learn more details about the 2026 Cherokee soon, as this new SUV is expected to make its official debut in the near future. The new Cherokee is scheduled to go on sale late this year. The previous-generation Cherokee was dropped from the lineup after the 2023 model year, and Jeep is surely hoping that the return of this high-selling nameplate to its showrooms will provide a boost in sales numbers.
Jeep Reveals First Photos of the 2025 Cherokee
Headshot of Joey Capparella
Joey Capparella
Deputy Editor, Rankings Content
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
