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Feann Torr10 Feb 2015
NEWS

Jeep plotting sub-Renegade micro-SUV

Ultra-compact crossover on the cards for Jeep, to target emerging markets first

Iconic US off-road brand Jeep has a brash plan to almost double its global sales in the next five years, and one of the ways it hopes to do so is by developing an ultra-compact Jeep that will debut in emerging markets such as Brazil and India.

Adrian Van Campenhout, Jeep's chief of international product planning – the guy who green-lights new global models for the SUV-exclusive brand – told a group of Australasian journalists during the Renegade launch that it is looking at developing an all-new teeny-weeny SUV.

Jeep's product planning chief says the brand needs new volume-selling vehicles to dramatically increase sales after his boss, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) kingpin Sergio Marchionne, declared that Jeep would reach 1.9 million global sales by 2019. That's a considerable jump from the one million it sold in 2014.

"The Renegade can't deliver all that growth but we'll have more production sites around the world [for it]. There's a plan that backs up the sales claims," he said.

But Van Campenhout is acutely aware that the smaller the vehicle, the more difficult it is to turn a profit.

He wouldn't rule out the idea of leveraging the Fiat Panda's platform for a new micro-SUV which would measure less than four metres in length, but he revealed that another feasible option was to use a Brazilian platform, which would be significantly cheaper to manufacture.

"It's not just about what is in Turin, but what is available globally. We have some really good folks down in Brazil that do some fantastic low-cost platforms. So globally, the studies would necessitate considering all platforms and all sources.

"If we study a smaller vehicle [than Renegade] for markets that would demand it, there's a lot of emerging markets with a lot of volume out there, markets that view Renegade as a huge car," he said.

Van Campenhout observed that something like the Renegade is "ungodly expensive" for many emerging markets.

"So naturally if you take a look at the white space, take a look at a brand that is capturing a lot of market share everywhere around the world … I think that India would be a very suitable place to think about for this vehicle."

The new model is odds-on to be named something rebellious – Jeep Rebel? – but if Van Campenhout's number-crunching research tells him that the idea is a solid one, and he signs over the cash to get the project fast-tracked, will the microscopic SUV harm the Jeep brand? The Jeep product planning supremo says no.

"The fact is, if it says JEEP on it, it's gotta be a Jeep, right? I can't compromise on the brand values for something at one end of the spectrum and be able to sell these other glorious beasts at the other," he said, pointing to ultra-capable mountain climbers like the Wrangler.

"We are rabid about protecting that [rugged] brand statement, because that's what people know us for. It's like the North Face jacket. Nobody's ever gone up the north face of anything with that jacket but the brand exists because the quality of the materials and execution of the product could do what it's says should do."

"If you take a look at the Renegade and what we did with the Cherokee and the Grand Cherokee, you can infer that we're serious about doing what it is we do."

In other words, a Brazilian compact SUV built to a budget will have to be capable of hitting off-road trails without falling to pieces.

"Consumers appreciate somebody that does what it is they say they're gonna do."

The new super-compact SUV could be litmus tested in emerging markets such as India and Brazil, but Van Campenhout reiterated Jeep's strong global presence and hinted that it could be tweaked to suit more mature markets, such as Australia.

"It could work in your neck of the woods too," he posited.

FCA is the world's seventh largest automobile manufacturer. Sergio Marchionne wants the company to climb a few more rungs of that ladder and Jeep is one of the Italian-American alliance brands earmarked to do much of the heavy lifting.

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