Jeep is an American brand of automobiles which is a division of FCA US LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Fiat S.p.A purchased the Chrysler Group in 2014 for $3.65 billion and was renamed FCA US LLC, to reflect the Fiat-Chrysler merger. Jeep has been a part of Chrysler since 1987 when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand from its previous owner, American Motors Corporation (AMC).
Jeep's current product range consists purely of luxury and premium sport utility vehicles and off-road vehicles but has also included pickup trucks in the past. Some of Jeep's vehicles - such as the Grand Cherokee - reach into the luxury SUV segment, a market segment the Wagoneer model is considered to have created. A whopping 1.4 million Jeep car models (read: SUVs) were sold globally in 2016, up from 500,000 in 2008.
Prior to 1940, the term ‘jeep’ had been used as a US Army slang for new recruits or vehicles but the World War II ‘jeep’ that went into production in 1941 specifically associated the name to this light, military 4x4 vehicle, arguably making them the oldest four-wheel drive mass-production vehicles. The Jeep became the primary vehicle of the United States Army and the Allies during World War II. In lowercase, however, the term ‘jeep’ continues to be used as a generic term for vehicles inspired by the Jeep that are suitable for use on rough terrain.
Jeep has been headquartered in Ohio ever since Willys-Overland started production of the first CJ (Civilian Jeep) models there in 1945.
FCAIPL first revealed the Jeep brand in India at the 2016 Auto Expo in New Delhi and soon launched it in the second half of 2016. The first set of new Jeep cars launched in India consisted of the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, Jeep Grand Cherokee and the high-performance Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT which were brought in via the CBU route.
In June 2017, Jeep rolled out its first 'Made in India' model, the Compass, from Fiat’s Ranjangaon plant in Maharashtra. This facility will be the mother plant for all right-hand-drive versions of the Compass SUV to be sold in India and in many international markets like Japan and the UK, to name a few.
The range of Jeep cars in India consists of the Compass, Wrangler Unlimited, Grand Cherokee, Grand Cherokee SRT and the soon-to-launch Renegade which will form the company’s 2018 product line-up in India.
Jeep car prices in India start from around 15.3 lakh rupees for the 2018 Compass. All Jeep car price listings can be found on the website of autoX.
