SURPRISE low pricing for Jeep Compass likely: We explain

What will it be priced at? That’s the BIG question on almost everyone’s lips as far as the upcoming Jeep Compass SUV is concerned. We’ve been hearing numbers all the way down from 16 lakh rupees, going all the way up to 25 lakh rupees. Frankly, the jury seems out on this one. We decided to go a step further.

While Jeep will announce the price of the Compass sometime in late July, with deliveries slated to begin in early August, we at CarToq put the pricing question to dealers. The responses we got more or less showed they agreed on a common starting price.

And what is that?

17 to 22 lakh rupees! Four out of five Jeep dealers that CarToq surveyed earlier today conveyed that they were expecting the Compass’ pricing to start at 17 lakh rupees — ex-showroom — for the base-diesel variant. A solitary dealer pegged the price at
18-22 lakh rupees.

The base variant, dubbed the Sport, will be powered by a 2 liter Fiat Multijet turbo diesel engine making 170 Bhp-350 Nm.  A 6 speed manual gearbox will be standard, and so will an extensive set of safety features ranging from twin airbags, ABS+EBD, and traction control to ESP, hill hold, and an electric parking brake.

What you won’t get in the base variant, however, is a four wheel drive layout and the additional four airbags. The lower variants will be front wheel driven. So, what do I have to pay for the original Jeep 4X4 DNA you may ask! Well, the 4X4 transfer case will be offered only on the top-end manual variants (called Limited) of the Compass.

Expect to pay about 21-22 lakh rupees — ex-showroom — for these variants, which will also come with an option pack. The mid level Longitude variant, which is likely to be priced at a little less than 20 lakh rupees will be fully loaded in terms of cosmetic and interior features but will miss the crucial 4X4 transfer case.

Jeep will also offer an option pack on the Longitude variant. All in all, there will be 5 variants — Sport, Longitude, Longitude (O), Limited and Limited (O).

So, where will the Compass actually sit?

From the prices that Jeep dealers seem to be banking on, the Compass will undercut the likes of the Hyundai Tucson and Volkswagen Tiguan but will be pricier than the Hyundai Creta and the Mahindra XUV500. With the 17-22 lakh rupee price range, Jeep India could straddle this sweet spot, playing the value card, and tempting both Creta/XUV buyers as well as making Tucson/Tiguan buyers think very hard.

Another party trick is a few months away…

Dealers note that the 17-22 lakh rupee price tag is for the diesel model. The turbo-petrol variants of the Compass will sit slightly lower by about a lakh or so. These variants are expected to arrive after a few months but before the end of this year. The petrol powered Compass will use a 1.4 liter Fiat T-Jet engine, putting out 160 Bhp-250 Nm. 6 speed manual and 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearboxes will be offered. Jeep also plans to introduce an automatic gearbox on the diesel powered variants. This will be the range-topper but isn’t likely to come in before early 2018.