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China-market Jeep Grand Commander coming to U.S. as a Chrysler?

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There’s nothing like winding down the year with news to spin heads, eh?

Allpar

cites “sources” as suggesting the Chinese-market

Jeep Grand Commander

will come to the U.S. as a

Chrysler

. This Speculation with a capital “S” has several rationales. The late

Sergio Marchionne

said

Chrysler will focus on utility

and not

sell cars

, making it fit for a new three-row

crossover

. The road-focused Grand

Commander

couldn’t live up to U.S. perceptions of

Jeep

values, which is why the lateral brand move. A new model would give the Pentastar a second nameplate alongside the

Pacifica

, since the

300

sedan dies come 2020. And a big

Chrysler

school runner would allow the near-immortal

Dodge Journey

to end its life with something approaching dignity.

The Grand Commander, a stretched version of our

Cherokee

with three rows, uses a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 231 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque. The 192-inch long SUV is ten inches longer than the

Cherokee

, and 2.2 inches longer than the

Grand Cherokee

.

Carmakers bring a host of not-for-U.S. metal over here, so this doesn’t signal production intent, but sharp eyes

caught the Grand Commander on Michigan streets

in March. The white high-rider carried its Chinese badging, and was bereft of camo other than tape over the door handles.

Allpar

says a domestic version wouldn’t be built in China, but either in the Belvidere, Ill. plant that builds the Cherokee, or in facilities in Windsor,

Canada

or Toluca, Mexico. Should these events come to pass, Chrysler would soon have four models:

Pacifica

, a

production version of Portal concept

, a

crossover based on the Pacifica

, and the rebranded

Jeep

.

Ready for more?

Allpar

also says there are “

rumors

of a Chrysler-badged crossover version of [the

Dodge

]

Charger

.”

FCA

leaving Chrysler and Dodge out of the

FCA five-year roadmap

earlier this year leaves a vacuum ripe for, shall we say, Chinese whispers. We’re not saying all of this won’t happen, but put these prognostications in one place and it starts to read like a wrinkle in time, it’s all so fabulous. Remember, the last we heard about the

Dodge Journey

, it was going to become

an Alfa Romeo-based performance crossover

headed to

dealerships

next year. The best we can suggest for now is to stay tuned.

Related Video:

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