As you may have heard, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is revealing its product plan today in Detroit and a significant part of the company’s turnaround strategy relies on Jeep. The U.S. brand will expand its product portfolio from today’s five nameplates built in one country to six nameplates built in six countries.
Alongside the Renegade that will go on sale this year, Jeep has confirmed that the Grand Wagoneer nameplate will return in 2018 as the brand’s flagship model, a three-row SUV. Another new model will be a C-segment SUV, which will replace both the Patriot and Compass in 2016, the year Jeep celebrates its 75th anniversary. The unnamed SUV will be based on a stretched version of the platform that underpins the Renegade.
Furthermore, the Wrangler will be redesigned in 2017, as will the Grand Cherokee, but not before it gets a mild makeover in 2015. All these new and refreshed models are part of Jeep’s strategy to grow sales to 1.9 million a year in 2018, with much of growth expected to come from outside North America.
Jeep will start building the Cherokee and Renegade in China and will also produce there the scheduled replacement model for the Compass and Patriot. The company also plans to expans sales in Latin America, mainly in Brazil, where the Renegade and Compass replacement will also be built.
By the end of 2018, Jeep plans to expand production capacity in North America as well, where it plans to build 1 million units a year from about 800,000 today. Jeep also plans to build about 500,000 Jeeps in Asia, 200,000 in Europe and 200,000 in Latin America by the end of 2018.
By Dan Mihalascu
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