Though Jeep has never quite been synonymous with V8 engines, their gradual disappearance from various makes and models is widely seen as symbolic of the auto industry’s decline. Those who see things that way are about to get all doom-and-gloom about Jeep, which has just cut the 5.7-liter V8 from the Grand Cherokee L. That may sound like a minor loss on its own, but it represented the second-to-last V8 Jeep in production, putting this breed on the verge of extinction.
The change was reported by Motor Authority and confirmed to The Drive by a Jeep spokesperson, who stated the 5.7-liter V8 had been “phased out” from the 2024 Grand Cherokee L in Q3. The three-row Grand Cherokee variant therefore loses access to it class-best 7,200-pound tow rating that the V8 model offered, though the Jeep spokesperson emphasized that it retains that title with a 6,200-pound rating for the V6. Jeep evidently doesn’t see the loss of that extra 1,000 lbs of capacity as make-or-break, nor did the Grand Cherokee L’s customers, fewer than four percent of whom ordered V8s for model year 2024.
With the V8 cut from the regular two-row Grand Cherokee almost two years back, and the Wagoneer range dropping V8s a year ago, that leaves just one current Jeep with a V8: the Wrangler 392. Even it might not be long for this world, though. Jeep revealed a “Final Edition” of it earlier this year, which oxymoronically isn’t the end of the line for the Wrangler 392, as Jeep confirmed it’ll continue into the 2025 model year. Stellantis sure seems to have a hard time putting a period on its supposed last-call V8 models—just ask buyers of the totally limited-production Durango Hellcat.
When the Wrangler 392 does step out at last, it’ll put a cap on an illustrious run of V8 Jeeps. Jeep introduced AMC 327-powered Wagoneers and Gladiators in 1965, adding AMC 304s to the CJ in 1973, and even toying with an off-road V8 muscle car called the XJ-001. Even if they aren’t necessarily part of Jeep’s vital essence, V8s still run deep—just not deep enough for Jeep customers to buy them all that often.
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