At the last Shanghai Auto Show, Jeep unveiled a three-row SUV concept for the Chinese market called the Yuntu. Spy shots then started to appear in October of what seemed to be a crossover prototype of the Yuntu driving around FCA's Auburn Hills facility in Michigan. That now appears to have been backed up by a patent filing submitted by Jeep to China's trademark office that has been reported by the Chinese-language website AutoHome.
The documents show a three-row crossover that is named the Grand Commander, which adds an extra seat to the Yuntu's originally specification to make seven seats in total and will make its debut in Beijing in April of next year.
The Yuntu concept at the Shanghai Auto Show was a plug-in hybrid, but the Grand Commander is being reported as featuring a more conventional 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that will produce 270 horsepower, and sounds a lot like the unit powering the all-new 2018 Jeep Wrangler. However, as Jeep has already revealed there will be a plug-in hybrid powerplant for the new Wrangler arriving in 2020, it's easy to deduce a similar unit will eventually find its way into the Grand Commander too. It's especially likely as the Chinese government has made no secret of its desire to see a significant increase in the production and uptake of electric vehicles, in an attempt to do something about the chronic air pollution problems in some of the country's major cities.
But perhaps even more intriguing than the Grand Commander specifications found in the patent filings are some other Jeep models mentioned. They include such futuristic-sounding nameplates as Portal and Hyperspace, although Portal was also the name Fiat Chrysler gave to an exciting electric minivan concept with dual sliding bay doors at this year's CES in Las Vegas.
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