[Arjun Reddy]

Originally Posted by JKBKS

It seems like a marketing stunt since first 10-15 Jeeps were made in Feb/March itself, when FCA had invited their Suppliers for a first look at the India made Compass. A friend of mine who was at that event had gushed about the quality of the India made Compass

Those probably were the pre production cars. A lot of companies follow that route. Those cars will again be used for testing , crash testing etc.

The Compass which will roll out today probably will be the first official for sale Compass. Mr CM will be able to collect tax on this as soon as it rolls out.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by JKBKS

It seems like a marketing stunt since first 10-15 Jeeps were made in Feb/March itself, when FCA had invited their Suppliers for a first look at the India made Compass. A friend of mine who was at that event had gushed about the quality of the India made Compass

There is hell a lot of difference between a pilot production and a full scale commercial production. The assembly lines tweaking is all complete by end of April. Now the actual show begins in terms of regular productions (whatever the numbers produced are).

[bhpfaninblr]

Will be interesting to see what the pricing will be like. Success for Fiat-Chrysler has to be the number of units sold and a presence in the top 20 cars sold in Indian market. That is not easy. Tata Hexa does not find a slot in there! And as a matter of fact, most of the top 20 is Suzuki with Hyundai occasionally coming in

See March 2017 sales below where there is no Tata car, forget Fiat. No Ford and Volkswagen as well

1. Maruti Alto Series – 18,868
2. Maruti Baleno – 16,426
3. Maruti DZire – 15,894
4. Maruti Swift – 15,513
5. Hyundai Grand i10 – 12,545
6. Hyundai Elite i20 – 12,394
7. Maruti WagonR – 12,105
8. Renault KWID – 10,296
9. Maruti Vitara Brezza – 10,057
10. Hyundai Creta – 10,001
11. Maruti Celerio – 8823
12. Mahindra Bolero – 8681
13. Toyota Innova Crysta – 7252
14. Honda City – 6271
15. Maruti Omni Van – 6103
16. Maruti Ertiga -5937
17. Hyundai Eon – 5747
18. Maruti Eeco – 5525
19. Maruti Ignis – 5209
20. Mahindra Scorpio – 5157

The only way that Fiat-Chrysler can cause upheaval in the market is by pricing the Jeep Compass right in the Creta territory. From a marketing perspective, this could be the 'halo' effect that pushes the sales of the new launched cars in future

[RavenAvi]

Waiting before the official production rollout ceremony.

Sushant Balsekar @ Twitter

Car And Bike @ Twitter

Nitin Kangude @ Facebook

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Waiting before the official production rollout ceremony.

Sushant Balsekar @ Twitter

Car And Bike @ Twitter

Nitin Kangude @ Facebook

[/center]

The red one looks smashing. FCA should go for a killer price and target Creta at the low end and Tuscon at the higher end of price spectrum.

So all the staff along with media have assembled to see the Jeep compass roll out of the assembly line

[RavenAvi]

The manufacturing facility of the Compass was completed in a record 23 months.

The Jeep Compass sees parts localisation levels of close to 80%.

The Jeep SUV is built for international markets with very high standards of quality.

Domestic sales will be given priority over exports by Jeep India.

Exports to all Global RHD markets to begin from Q4 of CY 2017.

Jeep MOPAR service will be launched in India to offer hitherto unmatched services for the Indian owners of the brand's cars.

First made-in-India Jeep Compass was rolled out of the Ranjangaon plant's assembly line by Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis, who drove the first Compass (a red Latitude) out to the plant's outer tracks.

(Sushant Balsekar @ Twitter)

[agambhandari]

80 percent localisation for a car in this segment is unheard of!! I believe the XUV/Hexa are the most expensive cars currently on sale that have such high local content.
With such figures, we can surely expect competitive pricing, maybe a cracking introductive pricing?

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by bhpfaninblr

The only way that Fiat-Chrysler can cause upheaval in the market is by pricing the Jeep Compass right in the Creta territory. From a marketing perspective, this could be the 'halo' effect that pushes the sales of the new launched cars in future

I disagree, going down to Creta level will be devaluing the brand. Jeep is a rugged brand yet luxury/premium car. They can definitely charge a premium over Hyundai. The Tiguan has killed itself with it's high pricing which leaves a large gap for the Jeep to fill in. I think they need to undercut the Fortuner and Endy by a good margin to make this a success. I am predicting an Innova (mid model to top end model)range pricing from Jeep.

There are a lot of people who want an SUV but prefer a smaller size. I for one have a Fortuner but am looking to replace it with a smaller SUV like the Jeep,Tiguan,X1,etc. Simple because I don't really see the merits of a full size SUV anymore besides airport runs when the whole family is traveling together with a lot of luggage.

Infact, I am keen to see how Jeep tries to differentiate with perks to get over buyer's insecurities about it's after sales service by providing a 2-3 year free service and longer warranty as standard offering. BMW has started doing this along with guaranteed buyback and other brands are offering service discounts. The luxury car buyer is not only looking for discounts now but also overall ownership costs hence brands must provide a holistic package.

[Muski]

Originally Posted by agambhandari

80 percent localisation for a car in this segment is unheard of!! I believe the XUV/Hexa are the most expensive cars currently on sale that have such high local content.
With such figures, we can surely expect competitive pricing, maybe a cracking introductive pricing?

The same has been tweeted by CM of Maharashtra

[Abhi_Automobile]

Originally Posted by Sahil

I disagree, going down to Creta level will be devaluing the brand. Jeep is a rugged brand yet luxury/premium car. They can definitely charge a premium over Hyundai. The Tiguan has killed itself with it's high pricing which leaves a large gap for the Jeep to fill in. I think they need to undercut the Fortuner and Endy by a good margin to make this a success. I am predicting an Innova (mid model to top end model)range pricing from Jeep.

There are a lot of people who want an SUV but prefer a smaller size. I for one have a Fortuner but am looking to replace it with a smaller SUV like the Jeep,Tiguan,X1,etc. Simple because I don't really see the merits of a full size SUV anymore besides airport runs when the whole family is traveling together with a lot of luggage.

Infact, I am keen to see how Jeep tries to differentiate with perks to get over buyer's insecurities about it's after sales service by providing a 2-3 year free service and longer warranty as standard offering. BMW has started doing this along with guaranteed buyback and other brands are offering service discounts. The luxury car buyer is not only looking for discounts now but also overall ownership costs hence brands must provide a holistic package.

But Jeep isn't really a premium brand even in its home country. It is a rugged, and somewhat a quality conscious brand.

In India, all brands seem to be obsessed with the 'premium' tags - there are many who've tried the so called top-down approach, yet failed to create any halo affect (Renault for e.g saw its Koleos and Fluence sink without a trace, before tasting success with Duster and Kwid, neither of them premium). KTM, for e.g has had huge success following a bottom up approach.

I think what important is for the brand to remain close to its core values - for Jeep thi is toughness, desirability, go anywhere ability, and quality.

Just my opinion.

[Arjun Reddy]

So is the production on full swing as of today or it's just one or two compasses that have been rolled out ?

Assuming that they are going full steam and not exporting till Q4 ( probably because the diesel automatic gearbox is not available ) what are they going to do with the produced vehicles as the launch is a good 1-2 months away ?

[a4anurag]

Got this as a Forward on WhatsApp



This toothy fellow looks aggressive and brilliant in the Red colour.

Hope they don't go over confident and do a similar pricing strategy like how Maruti did with the S-Cross 1.6 on the launch.

[igp_79]

One tip that the Jeep's price will be more in tune with the Creta : How many 25 lakh plus on-road priced 5 seater models do we know, that come with only a manual transmission for it's mainstay diesel trims?

I think the answer is none (not too sure though).

Wouldn't FCA know that it cannot sell a Manual transmission car for much more than a 20 lakh ex showroom price, even if you pitch in the 4wd capability and the Jeep name?

After all, the Duster AWD retails at 17 lakhs, and though the Jeep's system is much better, we are not talking chalk and cheese difference here. In fact, an Autocar India article pitted this car against the XUV500, the CRV, the Evoque (no less), the Thar and the Yeti and declared that the Duster, was among the best of the lot as an all rounder, if not the best. ( again I am not sure when it was published, but I am sure members could pinpoint that particular article)

When it comes to convenience features, the Compass offers precious little over the AWD duster. Keyless entry and go, a more sophisticated infotainment system, curtain airbags and that's about it.

With all these factors, can't we expect FCA to price the Compass from 16 to 21 or 18 to 23 lakhs as speculated

[RavenAvi]

More pictures from the rollout event at Ranjangaon earlier today, giving us a good look at the Compass's colour shades which will be on offer.

White:





Black:





Silver:







Red:



Blue:



Beige (or silver?):

In addition, Blue, Red & Silver shades will be offered in dual-tone paint shade schemes (with black roofs and matching A & B blackout tapes/garnishes).

Plenty of options (plain, dual-tone, engines) for the Compass to decide upon, for the paying customer.

All pics sourced from Facebook.

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[Equus]

Originally Posted by igp_79

One tip that the Jeep's price will be more in tune with the Creta : How many 25 lakh plus on-road priced 5 seater models do we know, that come with only a manual transmission for it's mainstay diesel trims?

I think the answer is none (not too sure though).

Wouldn't FCA know that it cannot sell a Manual transmission car for much more than a 20 lakh ex showroom price, even if you pitch in the 4wd capability and the Jeep name?

After all, the Duster AWD retails at 17 lakhs, and though the Jeep's system is much better, we are not talking chalk and cheese difference here. In fact, an Autocar India article pitted this car against the XUV500, the CRV, the Evoque (no less), the Thar and the Yeti and declared that the Duster, was among the best of the lot as an all rounder, if not the best. ( again I am not sure when it was published, but I am sure members could pinpoint that particular article)

When it comes to convenience features, the Compass offers precious little over the AWD duster. Keyless entry and go, a more sophisticated infotainment system, curtain airbags and that's about it.

With all these factors, can't we expect FCA to price the Compass from 16 to 21 or 18 to 23 lakhs as speculated

Fair comparison! Duster AWD has a worthy competitor! The Duster AWD indeed has a lot going for itself but its nowhere close to premium. Compass seems so much more premium. Engines are also a lot more powerful, more air-bags, lot more safety and better 4*4 capabilites as well. I wouldnt mind paying 2-3L more than Duster AWD any day!

PS: Not to forget the smaller air-bags in AWD