Jeep Cherokee gets a lift

Sales of the new Jeep Cherokee are sky high, and now the SUV is too.

The Jeep Cherokee Dakar concept, one of six the brand has created for its annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari event, features a prototype Jeep Performance parts 2-inch lift kit that many customizers have said was infeasible to create for the car-based off-roader.

Along with the hike in height, it gets a set of wide bolt on fender flares stuffed with 33-inch tires on 17-inch wheels, rock rails, skid plates and a new rear fascia that helps give it a 39-degree departure angle.

It’s also full of plenty of accessories available from the Mopar parts catalog and is done up in Silver Steel Satin Gloss paint with red accents.

With the extreme makeover, Jeep is clearly trying to convince the brand’s faithful that the new Cherokee’s adventure chops make it a worthy successor to the original, and can make a good showing against the iconic Wrangler in the rough stuff.

Among the concepts are three of those, including the Wrangler Level Red and MOJO, both with some insane rock crawling capabilities bettered only by the Wrangler Maximum Performance and it’s 4-inch lift kit, 70:1 crawl ratio and 8-lug beadlock wheels.

For the more luxurious traveler, there’s the Cherokee Adventurer fitted with a Mopar roof basket and upholstered in Katzkin leather, along with the Grand Cherokee EcoDiesel Trail Warrior, which boasts an air suspension, Katzkin trim and a range of over 700 miles, so you don’t have to get your feet dirty to fill up the tank.

You can click through the slideshow at the top to check out all six of the Moab Easter Jeep Safari rides.