Jeep teases new Commander or... – UPDATE: Name confirmed ahead of Brazil launch

UPDATE, May 29: Wonder no more, Jeep has confirmed its new small three-row crossover will be named Brazil. And, as expected, it will be offered primarily in Brazil.

The story to here

April 8: A new Jeep SUV is on the way – to Brazil, at least – and reports suggest it’ll be a seven-seat offering based on the small Compass.

Spy photos published online confirm Jeep is planning a longer-wheelbase small SUV, which has led overseas media to christen it the Grand Compass.

However, a new teaser video released today by Jeep’s Brazilian office – a hint at where the new model will be marketed – suggests a different name. If, indeed, the teased and spied SUVs are the same model.

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Among the shadowy and very Jeep-like elements teased in the video are the letters ‘E R’ side-by-side.

This has led some media to suggest the Commander name will be ‘revived’, having last been used in the west on a large five- and seven-seat SUV offered between 2005 and 2010.

In the time since, a Holden Acadia-sized Grand Commander has been offered in China, having launched there in 2018. Rather than debuting in the west, the Grand Commander’s place has been filled by the returned and much larger Grand Wagoneer.

Given its smaller dimensions, it remains to be seen if this new upcoming Jeep will take over the not-so-grand Commander badge – but it could see the Liberty name brought back.

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Most Australian buyers only know the Liberty as the Jeep Cherokee, given the Liberty name already belonged to Subaru Australia (ironically, because Subaru chose not to use the global Legacy branding in Australia). But, in fact, the Cherokee name actually bookends the Jeep Liberty’s history.

Introduced as a successor to the earlier XJ Cherokee in 2002, the Liberty survived two generations before the Cherokee name returned – as a global model – in 2013.

Since then, the Liberty badge has lived in a drawer at Jeep headquarters. Could it return on this upcoming new model?

Only time will tell, but of course, a Brazil-only sales strategy could easily see the Commander badge used without causing ripples in the global Jeep nomenclature.

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