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Jeep CEO Called Out

He claimed the Cherokee Nation should consider the SUV's name "an honor."

The Jeep Cherokee was first introduced in 1976, and today maintains its position as one of the top-selling models for Stellantis.

But the longstanding moniker for this Jeep model has not been without controversy.

After years of statements by the Cherokee Nation indicating they weren’t comfortable with the name, the group directly stated in February that Jeep should rename its SUV.

Chuck Hoskin, Jr., principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, told Car and Driver that, while it probably came from “a place that was well-intended … it does not honor us.”

But in a recent interview with The Verge’s Nilay Patel, Jeep CEO Christian Meunier has claimed the opposite.

Meunier said Jeep was in “constant touch” with the Cherokee Nation and its people, and many of them “love the name.”

He added that, “They think it’s an honor to have their nation’s name on a great car.”

The Cherokee Nation responded, saying Chief Hoskin’s views have not changed, and that nobody “has ever expressed the idea that the company’s use of our name is a great honor.”

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