A pretty Beijing-Jeep Super Cherokee with Shandong Province license plates, seen in Beijing in 2019. The great Jeep was in a great shape, and the owner had made it even prettier with a shipload of extra chrome on the grille.
The grille makes it look more like a 1980’s US-spec Cherokee. It works very well on this late 1990’s car, giving it a more classic and high-end look. The extra chrome is applied all around the grille and headlights and on the vertical bars in the grille (compare with standard grille).
The Jeep Cherokee XK was made from 1984 until 2009 by the Beijing-Jeep joint venture, in countless versions and variants. The Super Cherokee was a high-end model with an extended wheelbase. It came with the high roof, a roof rack, extra thick bumpers and sporty wheels.
The interior was in a good shape, and, amazingly, with the original fabric seats! The fabric’s quality wasn’t very good, so in the vast majority of Chinese Cherokee XJ’s the seats are either fitted with seat covers or with new fabric or leather. The gear lever knob, the radio, and the speakers are after-market. Note the seat belt buckles. These were made of metal and very pretty. Later on the manufacturer stopped making them and they became very rare. I tried to replace my buckets once, they were a bit rusty, but my shop told me they didn’t have any! (My Jeep here).
The extended-wheelbase Chinese XJ had lots of space in the back. Wheelbase was extended by 102 millimeter, which made a huge difference.
Sporty five-twin spoke wheels were factory standard.
High roof with roof rack.
BJ7250EA was the factory designation, which in those days was still displayed on the car, with a sticker in a cool font with a shadow. Power came from the 2.5 liter four-cylinder petrol engine with 136 hp and 180 Nm. Power went to the rear-wheels only via a five-speed manual. The Super Cherokee was also available with the 4.0 six and 4-wheel drive, but the 2.5 version is much more common.
The badge of the joint venture: Beijing Jeep Corporation.
Today is Cherokee XJ is a rather rare sight in Beijing, mainly due to China’s ever stricter emissions regulations. Many cars were scrapped but many others were sold on to other provinces were regulations are not as strict yet. May this fine example with its pretty grille survive!
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