In Melbourne: The Jeep® brand has strengthened its flagship Grand Cherokee engine lineup when it added a 3.7-litre V6 petrol engine to its range.

The new 3.7-litre V6 petrol engine revs up 148 kW of power and 315 Nm of potent torque mated to a five-speed automatic transmission which has auto variable line pressure adjustment that boost fuel economy. It is also equipped with top-of-line Jeep parts like the popular Jeep axle assembly. The new engine has also becomes the new price leading model for the Grand Cherokee with a staring price of $51,990 which is the RRP or the Recommended Retail Price for the Laredo.

According to Gerry Jenkins, managing director for the Chrysler Group in Australia, “The 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee is designed, engineered and built on the combination of heritage and capability that has made the Jeep brand an icon in Four-wheel drive circles. Our new V6 petrol engine gives customers even more choice in selecting the model that best suits their needs.” He also added, “And by setting a new entry price of $51,990 (RRP), the V6 also makes the Grand Cherokee’s on-road refinement and off-road mastery experience even more attainable.”

The already impressive Grand Cherokee range was even made more remarkable with the addition of the new V6 engine completing the lineup of powerful engines such as the fuel sipping 3.0-litre turbo diesel, the powerful 5.7-litre V8 with its fuel saving Multi-Displacement technology, the 4.7-litre V8, and who would forget the high performance SRT 6.1-litre V8.

Last year Grand Cherokee registrations have reached an impressive 1,365 which represents a 1.4 percent increase compared to the 2005 sales. The said increase was enough to cover the decline in the segment trend that happen in 2005.

The arrival of the new Jeep Wrangler, Compass, and Wrangler Unlimited later this March will increase the Jeep range to six models including the Cherokee, Grand Cherokee and the seven-seat Commander. The Jeep Patriot will be also added later this year and will be introduced as the seventh model. The Jeep Grand Cherokee was built in Graz, Austria.

The pricing for the all-new Jeep Grand Cherokee are as follows:

• Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 3.7-litre V6- $51,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.7-litre V8- $53,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 3.0-litre CRD V6- $58,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4.7-litre V8- $65,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 3.0-litre CRD V6- $68,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 5.7-litre HEMI V8- $70,990 (RRP)
• Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 6.1-litre HEMI V8- $85,990 (RRP)