1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee Home Page

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Designs by Antonick | Shinoda Design | Strategy Success | Timeline of the ZJ | Advertisements | Ford's Exproler | Other Competitors | Pictures of a Blackberry GC

In the beginning ...

... there was the 1989 Jeep Concept 1


The upper echelon of medium-sized sport utilities.
On road luxury with true off-road capability - contemporary athletic appearance - a forerunner to the current sport utility craze.
Production model code name: ZJ (built from 1992 to 1998) Total first generation Grand Cherokee ZJ's sold: 1,428,095.

For many, Jeep has always been regarded as a "tough" vehicle.
Introduced in 1992 as a 1993 model, the Grand Cherokee continued this tradition with rugged looks, but surprising refinement on the highways.
The ZJ is a luxurious outgrowth of the original compact Cherokee - a model that arrived in the 1984 model year and helped to revolutionize the SUV market.

Enjoying the sun in 1993 on the beach in Daytona, Florida. Shown with its factory standard Good Year Invicta GL street tires.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee was designed by American Motors Corporation to replace their compact Cherokee models that were in productions since 1983. However, soon after Chrysler's buy out of AMC in 1987, the product strategy was changed. Chrysler would continue the production of the original models in the historic facilities in Toledo, Ohio. The new design was formed as a separate and more luxurious model lineup, to be called "Grand Cherokee".

Moreover, Chrysler's decision to expand the product offering called for a completely new manufacturing facility to be built in Detroit, Michigan. The original Cherokee enjoyed top sales, but the decision to manufacture AMC's replacement design in a separate greenfield factory also delayed the model's introduction. This allowed Ford's more rudimentary pick-up truck based Explorer to have a head start in the larger SUV market.

American Motors was developing new design directions for Jeep vehicles. On the next page are some of the proposals from the early 1980s prepared by Milton J. Antonick, while he was working for AMC, as well as the story of an independent contractor.

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