Manley: Renegade Will Appeal To U.S. Customers Despite Italian Roots
According to Jeep boss Mike Manley, the Italian-built Renegade will appeal to the off-road brand’s United States customer base despite its Italian roots, especially in Trailhawk form.
Automotive News Europe reports the main concern regarding the Renegade is its off-road capability, which Manley believes will be resolved once the trail-rated Trailhawk arrives in showrooms in 2015 along with the rest of the Renegade family. He also noted the design language expressed by the entry-level Jeep, as well as its footprint, echo that of the CJ family:
The Renegade’s footprint is similar to one of the CJs. It’s much more Wrangler. We’re very pleased, and I think it will work well in the United States.
Though Manley remained silent on the subject of sales figures for the Renegade and platform sibling Fiat 500X, supplier sources expect a total of 280,000 units annually between the two, with Jeep moving 150,000 units and Fiat accounting for 130,000. Price of admission will be announced by Jeep in Q4 2014 for the U.S., Q2 2014 for the European market.
Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.
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The Cherokee looks substantially larger than this appears. I like it. Let me order it with a vinyl floor and make sure it can tow a little bit and it could work. I haven't seen the modern one, but living in Italy circa 2000 the Panda was a rough little car that looked about like something Jeep could have built.
Here, for all the "It will suck off road" haters http://cars.uk.msn.com/news/fiat-panda-4x4-monster-truck
Just an anecdotal story from driving around some forest access roads today after a hike in my 4Runner. The gravel roads were a bit washed out and soft in some places, but totally passable with a sedan, as evidenced by the Honda Civic we saw along the way. The other 4x4s we saw out and about were exclusively Jeeps: 2 XJ cherokees (one extensively modified, one stock), 3 Wranglers (one TJ, 2 JKU). One of the JKUs followed me along the road, easy 30 mph driving. There are some pretty deep potholes along the way, oftentimes 5+ in a row in a corner. I was just driving to get out to the road home, but the guy behind me was having a ball hitting all of the puddles, and even purposely hitting all of the potholes(!) I found this rather amusing, and wondered how one of the new KL Cherokees would fare if such a gentleman were to own one. Elsewhere along the drive I saw a bunch more JKs, as well as more modified XJs. Also saw a resto-mod FJ40 for sale by the side of the road (drool). Southern Indiana apparently has quite a few 4x4 enthusiasts!
I secretly like Jeeps, but have been scared off by poor MPG and lousy interior space utilization. This little Jeep could fix both! If this one has good MPG numbers, and doesn't try to be something it isn't (my problem with the Escape I used to own), this really tempting. I'm an American, so Manley is probably right about the appeal - I like it a lot, at least! I agree with pretty much everyone that this thing will be a great seller. I'll take mine in electric or diesel, with a brown interior and chrome highlights. On thw othwr hand, if it can't humiliate my minivan in the MPG department, then Jeep will have to wait until one of my Toyotas wears out before I can justify buying any vehicle. Which, by the looks of things, will be a very long time.