Back in May, Chrysler told reporters that the all-new 2014 Jeep Cherokee’s production launch has been delayed about one month over a number of issues. To be precise, Mark Chernoby, Chrysler’s senior vice president of engineering, told the Free Press at the time that, “Right now, we are at a point where we have dozens of open issues. It is less than 100. But this is kind of the normal nose cone of the launch process.”
Two months later, the Cherokee’s problems are far from over and in fact, they were forced to postpone the press launch of the compact SUV scheduled for this Sunday in Seattle where more than 200 journalists and analysts had been invited to drive the car.
“Over the last couple of weeks during final quality and durability testing, we have discovered the opportunity to further improve powertrain calibration in the Jeep Cherokee,” Chrysler said in a statement, according to the Detroit Free Press. “We will introduce the vehicle to media and consumers as soon as that process is complete.”
The issue that led Chrysler to call off the event is an electronic glitch with a system controlling the engine and the nine-speed automatic transmission, said the company in a statement.
Chrysler added that despite the problems, the market launch date for the new Cherokee in the States remains unchanged: “While the media drive timing has changed, production continues and the vehicles will be in showrooms in September,” said the automaker.
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