Fiat Chrysler Automobiles may build and manufacturer at least one or more luxury SUVs at its plant outside Pune. A report from ET suggests that the premium SUV will be under the Jeep brand and that the entire plan to manufacture it here in India is a part of Rs 1,500-Rs 2,500 crore plan for various markets like UK and Australia.
The reports suggests that the vehicle will be a C-segment competitor (codenamed M6 or 556) and will go into production by the end of 2016. However, the report also says that this car is likely to be priced in the range of Rs20-25 lakh making it more of a D-segment vehicle.
We believe that the vehicle will be the recently launched Jeep Renegade which by then should undergo its first major change. It’s production here means that India too will get the vehicle. Depending on the success of this vehicle, Fiat may also introduce the 500X Crossover. It also suggests that Fiat is working on a Modular Platform called 326 which will be the base for the vehicles that will replace the Punto and the Linea.
Fiat is not doing too well in terms of numbers and it seems that the company is looking to make volumes by taking advantage of the low cost of production in India. If it does achieve success from the production of this model, then we expect that most of the cars under the Fiat Chrysler umbrella will be produced in India.
