It is now a well-known fact that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is gearing up to launch the popular American SUV brand, 'Jeep' in India next year. Jeep, which is set to begin its Indian operations come February 2016, with the Cherokee, followed by the Wrangler, recently imported the Jeep Renegade compact SUV in the country for R&D purpose.
Also Read: Jeep in India Has A Challenging Road Ahead
According to the information we have received, the company has imported four units of the Jeep Renegade to India from USA. While two of them are 4X2 variants, the other two are 4X4 variants. All the four SUVs have landed in Mumbai and will most likely be taken to the Fiat and Tata Motors' jointly owned Ranjangaon plant to begin the R&D process. As per the import data received from Zauba, each unit's cost has been estimated at Rs. 17.49 lakh.
Also Read: Made-in-India Jeep SUVs to Roll Out of Fiat's Ranjangaon Plant
Now, judging by these recent developments we believe there could be two possible outcomes. First possibility - the company could be planning to launch the Renegade SUV in India in addition to the Cherokee and Wrangler range to target the compact SUV market. In that case, the Renegade will most likely be imported as CKD units and compete in India with the likes of Hyundai Creta, new Renault Duster and even the Mahindra XUV500.
Also Read: Jeep Wrangler Review
The second and the more likely possibility if you ask us, is that these R&D units have been imported for benchmarking Jeep's upcoming all new SUV, codenamed 554. The SUV, which is being developed for the Indian market, will be making its global debut in the country in 2016 and will most likely go on sale from 2017. Moreover, according to earlier reports Fiat and Tata Motors are currently also working on an all-new 2.0-litre Multijet engine for the new SUV, which will be developed with JLR's assistance.
As for the Renegade SUVs that have been imported to India, they are powered by a 2000 cc diesel engine, which is essentially the in-line four-cylinder 2.0-litre Multijet2 engine currently powering the European model. The engine comes in two power tunes - 138 bhp and 168 bhp, while transmission duties are taken care of by a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 9-speed automatic unit respectively.
