We Hear: Jeep Considering Model Below Renegade for Emerging Markets - Motor Trend

au sat down with Adrian Van Campenhout, Jeep's chief of global product planning, at the launch of the Jeep Renegade in Australia, where the product boss said a new volume model could be necessary to reach the global sales goal of 1. 9 million... A sub-Renegade model wasn't in FCA's five-year plan that was presented last year. The product chief said the model is being considered because there are markets that "view the Renegade as a huge car" that's "ungodly expensive" in comparison to other available options. However, Van Campenhout made it clear that such a model would have to live up to Jeep's high standards of ruggedness. These latest admissions fuel speculation that began last year, when Jeep CEO Mike Manley said the brand was looking into a vehicle below the Renegade. My initial reaction was to worry that perhaps Jeep is diluting its image too much. If FCA wants to sell Jeeps solely on the power of the name alone (and you have to admit, Jeep is a pretty popular brand), then it is slowly going to whither away our expectations of what a Jeep should be, and FCA will no longer be able to sell... But then I remember the horrifying vehicles that Jeep has put out in the past. Source: wot.motortrend.com