Hey John Davis and the rest of the Motorweek crew — thank you for the shout-out this morning.

Hey, remember when the Wall Street Journal made waves by reporting that the 2014 Jeep Cherokee was based on an Alfa Romeo design? That's a fascinating tidbit. The problem is, it's not true, according to the American guy who designed it.

Car enthusiasts love the Jeep Cherokee XJ for roughly the same reason rebel armies love the AK-47: It's reliable, cheap, effective, and absolutely classic. Therefore, the reveal of the crossovery 2014 Jeep Cherokee led many Jeep faithful to reach for their nearest available rifle and point it directly at their computer …

Since we exclusively busted open the 2014 Jeep Cherokee early, everyone's wondered if the Alfa Romeo-based CUV could ever achieve the "Trail Rated" status of other Jeeps. The Trailhawk is the answer to that question.

This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:00 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?

The 2014 Jeep Cherokee debuted last week to some very mixed reviews. And by "very mixed," I mean mostly negative. Chrysler Group VP of Design Ralph Gilles has now spoken out about the new car, and he says it's "very contemporary."

After we exclusively revealed shots of the new Jeep Cherokee rolling off the assembly line, Chrysler released the official shots of the vehicle a few hours later and ahead of schedule. The reaction to the car — particularly its nose and headlights — hasn't been as positive as the Mopar folks probably wanted. But the…

Remember when we showed you those photos of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee like, earlier today? If you doubted they were real, doubt no more. Jeep suddenly (and without telling us) released images of the new Cherokee with a short press release. Happy Friday!

Earlier today we showed you the first pictures of the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. It's the most daring Jeep design I've ever seen. But will all that daring make it a success or a failure?

Actually, "Jeep Rancor" doesn't sound too bad.