Its official!, the The long awaited Jeep Compass will make its debut in the Indian market on April 12. Unveiled last year in Brazil, this is the new entry-level Jeep model and will be the first one to be locally assembled in the renovated Fiat/Jeep facilities at Ranjangaon.
Showcased in Brazil last year and then again at Geneva, this latest generation Compass has been designed to look like a mini version of the much larger Cherokee SUV. It follows most of latter’s design cues and thus manages to combine butch looks with modern styling. The cabin is standard Jeep fare and gets things like climate control, touchscreen infotainment system, leather upholstery, electrically adjustable ORVMs as well as power windows all around.
Globally, the SUV is offered with three petrol and two diesel engine options. However, for India, we believe that the engine options will be petrol and diesel, both of which will get AT/MT options. Both models are expected to get AWD a.k.a Jeep Active Drive on at least one variant.
The Jeep Compass is expected to be priced in the range of Rs 20 lakh to Rs 27 lakh putting it in competition with a range of vehicles like Skoda Superb, Toyota Fortuner, Ford Endeavour and the Chevrolet Trailblazer. This will be an important vehicle for Jeep with regard to its Indian operations as this will be their first volumes model and if successful, it may prompt the American SUV maker to bring in more locally assembled models for the Indian market.