[Aditya]

Jeep, the American iconic car brand, is strategizing its plans for India to double its sales over the next quarter as it makes its vehicles more aspirational and affordable.

Our sales are picking up and we plan to double it to over 1,000 units every month in India over the next three months from 500 to 600 units at present," Aditya Jairaj, Head of Jeep India Operations and Deputy Managing Director at Stellantis India, told Financial Chronicle on the sidelines of the roll out of the new Jeep Compass SUV.

"We are thinking globally and acting locally, and this will increase localization to make our vehicles affordable. Localization is the key for our upcoming products to capitalize on the huge potential of the iconic Jeep brand. We are aggressively expanding our presence in the competitive and lucrative SUV segment in the country as we will introduce new range of cars to attractive buyers," Jairaj said.

the company is aiming for more than 90 per cent localization of its vehicles from 70 per cent at present over the next two to three years to offer them to buyers at competitive prices.

Jairaj also said, "It is not just localizing for India, but it is India for India and India for the world."

He said the dealership network for the company will also be expanded to 80 dealers by the end of December 2023, up from 69 in 2022.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

[GTO]

Looks unlikely. Will be very tough. The 2WD AT variant will definitely add sales, but it will also take some sales away from the 4x4 AT variant. The Compass is competent, but now old...and still small + pricey. Similar issues with the Meridian. The competition has intensified, with there being so many newer or bigger SUVs you can buy for the same money.

Plus, they don't have a petrol option in a market that loves its turbo-petrols!

[Cresterk]

There is only so much you can milk a 7 year old compass before the market gets tired of it. Unless they come up with a new generation, completely new look compass with a better engine/auto gearbox combo or a lower end product to fit below it, I doubt market share will be increasing.

[Shreyans_Jain]

I don’t see them getting into 4 digits anytime soon. Not until they provide a genuinely competent petrol engine option on Compass and Meridian, and add additional models.

[karan561]

1000+ units consistency is easy for Jeep India as soon as it does the following;

- Next Gen Jeep Compass, Meridian needs to launch ASAP, but I think they are more concentrating on it being an EV too hence the delay.

- Grand Cherokee prices need to be around that of the Fortuner. (In Australia the G Cherokee is only 5L more expensive than Fortuner)

- Wrangler prices need to be around 40L (CKD price is better but it still is expensive & needs a reality "price" check)

Easy

[sanstorm]

It can. There are many potential customers sitting on the fence, what Jeep needs is a new product (Avenger, Renegade) to complement the existing 2 models. It would achieve two things -

1) It will create confidence that the company is here to stay
2) It will give a volume product to expand footprint and dealership to the next tier

[avdhesh15]

It's doubtful with their current range of 2 products:

1. Compass is much more pricier than the favourite 20 lac SUV segment. Most people looking for something in that segment are willing to forego the Compass considering there are a multitude of options in 20 lacs with Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, Suzuki, VW, Skoda, MG, Honda having plays along with Tata and Mahindra. Can't understand why to pay that extra for the Compass.

2. Meridien is fighting with the Fortuner! Enough said. But there is also Hyundai, Skoda, VW, MG having some options in this bracket.

[kronos596]

Nope. Not without a Petrol engine in the lineup.

The 4x2 AT will drive up some sales but 1000 units per month is too much to expect. The current Longitude/Longitude(O) has the potential to singlehandedly drive up sales by at least 200 units, but Jeep being Jeep skipped 6 airbags on them which removes at least 20-25% of top-end Creta/Seltos buyers who could have jumped to Compass.

Also what is the export strategy now? Their major RHD markets were UK, Australia and Japan. UK exports stopped since 2020 when Europe moved to 1.3 Turbo engine and Hybrids. Australia too will move to Hybrids next year. How are they planning to reclaim the export volumes.

[ruzbehxyz]

Looks unlikely because:
1. No petrol engine in the line up.
2. Compass is outdated and a revamped version is required.
3. Jeep is competing with some other brands which are more famous and reliable in India.
4. Grand Cherokee and Wrangler are overpriced for India. CKD is the only option.

[audioholic]

If we take a look at history, overpriced models never recovered sales just because of price cuts. Jeep must have played the localisation game much earlier and kept the prices low at launch even if it involved losing some money which they could have anyway recovered after localisation.

And with localisation comes the risk of niggles during the initial phases of rollout which will further make customers furious.

[TheFonz]

I highly doubt they will be able to reach those numbers.

They need to take note of the competition, and then work on improvements at multiple levels like service, product portfolio (include powerful turbo petrols, new products read avenger) and most importantly pricing.

I would hate to see Jeep go the Ford way.

[argchoff]

Looking at their monthly sales for the year 2022 they only barely managed to get past the 1000 mark a few times and that was when the prices were still sane and there was a petrol line up in the product range.

Inspite of the petrol AT being sluggish a lot of people were buying it. The petrol MT was the most VFM variant and customers were discouraged by dealers to buy it.

Even today the sales of Harrier surpass that of any compass inspite of having the same engine.

It is highly unlikely that jeep will manage to even come close to selling the 1000 units that they feel they will. The only thing they have on their side is the short waiting period. In the 16 months that i have been a compass owner i haven't seen any steps taken by FCA to improve the infrastructure or competency of their service center in Pune and neither have they taken the effort to introduce a petrol variant in the lineup.

I only hope that they continue the supply of spare parts in India. Sad... because the vehicle itself is simply awesome to drive.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by audioholic

If we take a look at history, overpriced models never recovered sales just because of price cuts. Jeep must have played the localisation game much earlier and kept the prices low at launch even if it involved losing some money which they could have anyway recovered after localisation.

And with localisation comes the risk of niggles during the initial phases of rollout which will further make customers furious.

Yes , I was thinking that if Jeep were to position itself as a premium brand then the vehicle itself should look and feel premium , it should have latest features , class leading power train and most importantly - nothing should be missing when there is a price cut

Is there a price cut?! Black shark 35L, 37L for model S 2WD, 39L for AWD.

I think Jeep will increase the price of XUV, Seltos etc, perhaps their sales too.

[GrammarNazi]

Although their showrooms are beautifully designed & sales staff are well informed & warm, I absolutely don't see them jump into the consideration of the vast majority of Indian market for a number of reasons, including that

A) They're labelled as a niche brand, not really easily serviceable in remote locations & service is relatively expensive too.

B) Most people will not like a super compact sized car at that price point, irrespective of the build quality,

C) No GNCAP rating to boast about, despite the build quality. I guess this is because the placement of the oil filled assembly of the 2.0L MJD.

D) Sub-Par automatic transmission relative to the Tata Harrier using Hyundai TC Auto unit.

E) No exceptional extended warranty & service packages, and no insurance deals like what MG did at the peak of hype during Product & Brand Introduction. Financing car loan at a low interest rate.

Even if they did all these by next week, sales will not cross 4-500 units per month for the next year.

[axe_deo]

Jeep needs to reduce compass prices by at least 1-2 lakh and also add ADAS in the feature list. The Meridien needs a more powerful engine(~200 ps) like the Fortuner. Otherwise, it's not worth the price as compared to compass and compass is already overpriced.