Fiat betting big on SUVs with the Jeep

We’ve already reported that Fiat Chrysler is planning to introduce the Jeep brand in India, but the company is now planning to make India their global manufacturing hub for the new Jeep SUV. The company has set a target of manufacturing 60,000 units of the new SUV in India by 2017.

The Fiat Chrysler group will invest up to Rs. 2,500 crore in India over the next couple of years and will setup a new production like at their existing facility in Ranjangaon near Pune. Launch is expected somewhere during 2017 and the SUV should be priced in the range of Rs. 20 – 25 lakh to rival the Toyota Fortuner.

Jeep will offer this new SUV in both petrol and diesel engine options with engine capacities expected to be a 2.0L, 4-cylinder as standard for both. The diesel engine will be manufactured in India while the petrol motor will be imported from Europe.

Jeep will export the new India-built SUV to other right hand drive markets such as Australia, UK, South Afric, Japan etc. To keep costs under check, the company plans 100% localisation.

Source- Rushlane