A couple of months ago, we brought you the news of Jeep delaying its entry into the Indian market to 2015. As days pass by, more details regarding the launch of the cult American SUV brand are cropping up and you won’t really like the latest bit of information.
Jeep won’t be bringing the much-hyped Renegade compact SUV (known as the B-Segment SUV in Fiat-Chrysler’s product plans) to India. The original plan was to launch a B-segment (Renegade) SUV in 2015 and a C-segment SUV in 2016. From the looks of it, it appears that there has been a major change in plans.
While the Jeep Renegade is off the radar as far as India is concerned, the C-Segment SUV could still make it to Indian shores in 2016. Jeep’s original plans of building the B-Segment and C-Segment SUVs in India, and exporting it to markets around the world also seem uncertain given the latest developments.
Jeep is likely to take the CKD assembly route for the C-Segment SUV at Fiat’s Ranjangaon facility. The SUV could be positioned in a price bracket in which the likes of Skoda Yeti (Rs 15-20 lakhs) and the Ssangyong Rexton are available. At lower volumes, CKD assembly makes more sense than full grounds up manufacturing.
Jeep will enter India in 2015, with the Wrangler’s launch on course. The Wrangler off roader will be joined later on by the Grand Cherokee . While the Wrangler will be brought in India as a Completely Built Unit (CBU), the Grand Cherokee could take the CKD route. Like the C-segment SUV due for a launch in 2016, the Grand Cherokee is also expected to be assembled at Fiat India’s Ranjangaon facility.
Jeep is working on bringing newer models of Wrangler and Grand Cherokee which will be launched in India in a couple of years after their global launches. The next generation model of Wrangler will launch in 2016, while the Grand Cherokee’s next generation model will bow in towards the fag end of 2017 or early 2018.
Via IndianAutosBlog
