Jeep has just announced that they are working on 4 new SUVs for India. They will be expanding their line-up for the Indian market. FCA Group has announced that they are working on localization and will be investing $250 million or Rs. 1,850 crore towards the production of four new Jeep SUVs that will be produced locally. This is a big step for the SUV, this shows that FCA is taking the Indian market seriously and they are here to stay. Currently, only the Jeep Compass is the only SUV that is manufactured locally in India. However, this is soon expected to be changed with new plans from Jeep. They will be launching 4 new SUVs that will be locally assembled in India. This will help in bringing the cost of the SUVs down and will attract more buyers.
Commenting on today’s announcement, FCA India Managing Director, Dr. Partha Datta said,
Our new investment of $250 million will give us a competitive edge in multiple segments with our new Jeep SUVs rolling out of Ranjangaon. This investment is in addition to $450 million we have already committed to our Indian operations over the past five years. We are delighted to announce our exciting new products, coupled with our continued commitment to India in Jeep brand’s 80th anniversary year
Also read: Jeep”s 3 new SUVs for India: What each one will look like!
Jeep Compass Facelift
The facelift of the Jeep Compass was due for quite some time now. The new Compass will be launching on January 7th. The new SUV was spied without any camouflage and even the interiors of the new SUV was showcased. You can read more about the spied images by clicking here. The SUV will get tweaked exterior with new LED headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps and LED foglamps. The new grille and headlamps are sleeker than the outgoing version. We can also see a revamped bumper which is now more aggressive. At the side, there is a new set of diamond-cut alloy wheels. There is no major change at the rear. The SUV continues to get LED tail lamps and there is a new chrome garnish that runs beneath the rear glass. The interiors of the SUV will see a big step up in quality. The SUV will be using tan and black coloured upholstery. There will soft-touch elements throughout the cabin. Jeep is offering a new infotainment system, steering wheel, multi-information display, gear selector and a lot more. It will continue to get the 1.4-litre turbo petrol producing 163 PS and 2.0-litre Multijet diesel engine producing 170 PS. The SUV will be offered with a manual or an automatic gearbox.
Jeep H6
Earlier, it was rumoured that Jeep will be using the Compass branding in some way for the upcoming 7-seater version of it. However, Jeep says that they will not be using the Compass name for the new SUV. This is being done so that the new 7-seater SUV has its own unique identity in the portfolio and the market. The new SUV will be underpinned by the same monocoque platform as the Compass. However, it will be slightly tweaked to accommodate the third-row seats. This means that the new SUV will be longer than the Compass. We are also expecting a longer wheelbase which will result in more cabin space when compared to the Compass. It will have larger rear doors, aggressive stance and design language. It will get a similar interior to the Compass Facelift. Powering the Jeep H6 will be the same 2.0-litre Multijet diesel engine but will be in a more powerful state of tune. So, it will be producing around 200 PS. The higher variants of the SUV will also be offering all-wheel-drive system. It will be competing against the MG Gloster, Ford Endeavour and the Toyota Fortuner.
Jeep Wrangler
Jeep currently sells the Wrangler as a CBU or Completely Built Unit in India. Jeep will be working on the local assembly of the Wrangler so that it can be a CKD or Completely Knocked Down unit. This will help in lowering the price of the Wrangler as currently, the Wrangler is very expensive as it starts from Rs. 63. 94 lakhs ex-showroom and the more off-road focused Rubicon variant starts from Rs. 68.94 lakhs ex-showroom. Currently, Wrangler is offered with a 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo-petrol engine that produces 268PS and 400 Nm of peak torque. It is mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission that drives all the four wheels through 4×4 system.
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Grand Cherokee was the flagship SUV from Jeep for India. It was a CBU or Completely Built Unit that was sold in India. However, now the SUV is discontinued in India but it will be making a comeback in its latest avatar as a CKD or a Completely Knocked Down unit. Earlier, the SUV was sold in three variants. There was the Limited variant that came with a 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine that produced 243 PS and 570 Nm. Then there was the Summit variant which was offered with a 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 petrol engine producing 290 PS and 347 Nm. The top-end variant was known as SRT which was powered by a Hemi V8 petrol engine that made 477 PS of power and 624 Nm of torque. The SUV used to start from Rs. 75.15 lakhs ex-showroom and competed with the likes of Mercedes-Benz GLE, BMW X5 and the Audi Q7.
Also read: All-new 2021 Mahindra XUV500: What it”ll look like
