Jeep India Registers Massive Sales Drop: Taking into account the sales figures of May 2018 and May 2019, the sales of the Jeep SUVs have dropped from 1,518 units to 977 units. The 36% drop in the sales can be understood by looking at several reasons which are responsible for Jeep to receive this amount of downfall in India.
First and foremost, the ever-increasing competition in the premium SUV segment has resulted in a drop in sales of Jeep. Tata’s recent SUV Harrier marked its presence in the market by entering into a segment which was dominated by the likes of XUV500 and Compass at a higher price range. In May 2019, Tata sold 1,779 units of the Harrier SUV beating the rivals Mahindra XUV500 and Jeep Compass by 584 units and 802 units respectively.
The other primary reason comes in form of pricing, where the base variant of Compass starts at INR 15.60 lakh, its two competitors in the market, the Tata Harrier starts with a base price tag of INR 12.70 lakh and Mahindra’s XUV500 base variant starts at INR 12.23 lakh. The difference in prices of the three SUVs clearly shows why the sales of Jeep Compass has received such a big drop.
Now, the competition is just about to increase as MG Motor has launched its first SUV in India. Known as Hector, the car looks quite promising and is likely to raise the bar. The bookings for the car are also now open with a token amount of INR 50,000. The pricing of the car is not yet revealed but it is likely to be priced around INR 15 lakh for the base model, and will directly compete with the Compass. Jeep India recently revealed the India-spec model of the Compass Trailhawk in India, and the launch is expected to happen in the coming weeks.