2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Compass could be more 'Australian' than you'd think: New SUVs undergo local testing - but what difference does it make?

Your new Jeep’s dynamics may well have been influenced by Australian conditions. But we may never know.

We already know that Jeep is using Australia as a testing ground for the forthcoming Grand Cherokee. And now, with the local launch of the facelifted Jeep Compass, it has been revealed that that model, too, has been tested Down Under.

But exactly what the take-homes have been for Jeep’s engineers is something we can’t tell you. Then again, neither can Jeep Australia.

Read More About Jeep Grand Cherokee

2022 Jeep Compass price and features: Can fresh looks and new tech help the American off-roader take on Toyota C-HR, Mazda CX-30, Hyundai Kona and Mitsubishi ASX? 2021 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe locked in! Diesel axing to lead to plug-in hybrid Toyota Kluger rival instead Jeep news and reviews

It seems while Jeep’s engineers are keen on the harsh Australian environment when it comes to fine-tuning their SUVs and off-roaders, they’re not so forthcoming when it comes to letting head office in Australia know what the findings were.

According to Jeep Australia managing director Kevin Flynn, “we were thrilled that (Jeep) global wanted to use Australia for development”.

Mr Flynn also admitted that prior to launch “…there had been an MY22 Compass running around in Australia for some time”.

But it seems that the engineering tweaks suggested by the Australian experience aren’t being discussed beyond the boardroom at Jeep’s global HQ.

“We’re (Jeep Australia) not always privy to those findings and what they feed back,” he told CarsGuide at the Compass launch.

Mr Flynn said he had been spending time behind the wheel of the new Compass, but couldn’t say whether the end result was something that had “come out of here”.

The suggestion is that testing data from all over the planet is merged into one knowledge bank at head office and final calibrations settled on from that point on.

“You can’t have a completely different suspension set-up for each market,” My Flynn explained.

“There’s a big effort now in taking information back to the engineers where it’s `baked in’ (to create the final specification).”

While it’s great to see Australian conditions being considered for a global vehicle, the Jeep approach is much more low key than that taken by Hyundai and Kia.

The South Korean brands have a dedicated team of local engineers on the ground in Australia, charged with testing prototypes to arrive at specific suspension tunes for specific and global markets. Including, of course, Australia.