Jeep officially entered India a few days back and launched the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler Unlimited in the country. Many fans were disappointed with the high pricing kept by the company while they even had no option of downgrading their products for a catchy price tag. Keeping the Jeep legacy alive and ending the dilemma from the Indian market, Jeep has been planning to launch a new model with an affordable price tag by local production in the country.
Quick Facts: The Upcoming Jeep C-SUV
The car is globally expected to debut this month itself while its production can start anytime in the next year. It will focus mainly on new markets, standing above the Renegade SUV in the international market. Here are the facts which may make the car feel more familiar to India than others launched a few days back.
# The most probable name for the C-SUV would be Jeep Compass as it is expected to replace the Compass and Patriot in the international lineup. It will borrow some design elements from the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
# Jeep India’s first in-house production model will be exported to most of the right hand drive markets around Asia. It would be the most affordable Jeep ever for India, expanding the customer base for the brand around a number of countries.
# The car will feature the 2.0 L Multijet diesel engine from Fiat, expected to produce 172 HP on the C-SUV. It will be offered with 4 wheel drive system while a smaller 1.6 L Multijet engine is expected to stay with a 2 wheel drive-train in one of the variants.
# Fiat will invest INR 1768 Crore in their Ranjangaon plant for the production of this SUV. It will stay clean and competing against other SUV’s won’t be a tough task for this born off-roader.
# The expected price of around INR 18-20 lakh feels like a dream for Jeep lovers. If they are ready to position the C-SUV in this segment, it would be easy for the car to win over other established cars like Fortuner and Endeavour. However, when it comes to luxury, it may not be as good as other Jeep products due to a strict budget.
# Jeep, Fiat and other partner brands will experience a whole new segment which none of them has been through in a country like India where likes and dislikes are based on far more complicated factors than European nations.
News Source: AutoCar India
