[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

I don't see the Compass weaning away more than 10% of the Creta buyers. Add 90% of Tucson sales and still I don't see the Compass crossing the 1000 mark.

You could also include a few from XUV and Honda city and some others in that range. Anyone with a budget around 15 would find it really tempting to go in for the Compass.
If (that is a big if) the service and resale aspect holds good, they may see increasing sales numbers in the upcoming months. If I had the money, I would go in for the earlier versions, just to get a vehicle with less localisation. But at the moment I don't, so I will wait for the early batch to enter the resale market.

Now I am torn between supporting high sales figures for Jeep as against protecting my pocket by rooting for a resale disaster

[aadya]

Many of us are looking at an wrong angle.Compass cannot get the numbers directly from any one competitor directly, rather like Ecosport it has created a seperate segment on its own. It is certainly a SUV(read tall and all terrain vehicle), well built, excellent turbo petrol and powerful diesel, established brand.

It would get customers from various groups. Unless a german or american brand pitches something directly against compass there is no direct competition in the near future.

There are no vehicle at present in 20-25 Lakh range which can claim all the qualities of compass. It would be taking say 100-200 of Creta buyers who want better brand and build quality, about 20-30 Tucson and Elantra , about 100 corolla altis, about 100-200 Crysta, about 50-100 octavia, about 50-100 city ZXI/BRV buyers, about 100-200 Fortuner/Endeavour, about 100-200 Q3/A3/Superb/Tiguan/X1/C-class.

Thereby we would be getting a well built, decently equipped vehicle priced right. Because of the price point it would not sell in numbers equal to Creta, Ecosport, XUV or Duster. But it would create a reachable aspirational product for buyers with budget of 15-20L or a VFM for buyers with bigger purse.

P.S: These observations are made with the context of myself and my friend booking Compass. Myself looking for upgrade from my I20 to topend Creta and himself a Q5 owner thought its VFM with quality.

[DuHasstMich]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

So unless there is an argument on the size of the touchscreen etc, not much of a contest here.

True, but we are forgetting an ~4Lakhs INR price difference as well, between both models. My argument is limited to Creta not being too severely impacted due to Compass pricing.

[civic-sense]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

You could also include a few from XUV and Honda city and some others in that range. Anyone with a budget around 15 would find it really tempting to go in for the Compass.

Cross-shopping is something Jeep can look forward to. Hexa, XUV, Innova, Octavia, Corolla buyers could be tempted. But the pertinent question is how many buyers are there in the 15-25L segment? And how many would be ready to leave their trusted brands and embrace the unknown? And would that number cross 1000?

And even if they sell a 1000, would Jeep be able to survive with that?

[Sayeed]

The segment and cars which will be affected most is Honda City top end variants and the worst affected is going to be the Mahindra XUV500, It's going to be tough for them if JEEP does well. The Hexa is still competitive with its features.

[abhishek46]

Contrary to what few others have noted, chances of reduction in Creta prices are bleak.
Price and Product wise, they stand wide apart.
The Creta pricing starts from 8.9 Lakh ex-showroom (Petrol 1.6) & 12lakhs (SX 1.6 Diesel trim).
Secondly, the Creta is a strong product by itself (whether it is an SUV or not, is a different question).
Competent engines, quality interiors, handsome looks & most importantly, peace of mind of ownership are few critical advantages it has, which are hard to nullify.

The real competitors of the Compass are the XUV, Hexa, Tucson & Crysta.
The Compass is priced really well for what it offers - Excellent Diesel Mill, Butch SUV Styling, 4wd etc.
However, in order to succeed against the established players, it has to be so damn good, that it has to overcome the mental barrier of majority of the potential customers, who are properly skeptical about Fiat's long term commitment, Service quality etc.
This is easier said than done.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by DuHasstMich

My argument is limited to Creta not being too severely impacted due to Compass pricing.

Originally Posted by abhishek46

Contrary to what few others have noted, chances of reduction in Creta prices are bleak.

Secondly, the Creta is a strong product by itself (whether it is an SUV or not, is a different question).

Absolutely. Hyundai is just too big to be worried about the pricing of an FCA product. They will hardly be affected, except for the Tucson - which is already a flop.

Creta has been accepted as a safe bet of an "SUV" by the Indian mass market. It will continue to laugh all the way to the bank.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by civic-sense

And even if they sell a 1000, would Jeep be able to survive with that?

I agree there are a lot of ifs here. But the premise of this thread is twofold. One aspect speaks about the product and its benefit to us as customer. The other is about FCA and how they would fare in their umpteenth attempt.

As a customer, I am more interested in the product and what benefit it gets to me (and others like me, of course) either now or in the future. I think we all agree the product and its pricing have the potential to change the game in the 15-25L range. Whether this translates into results would be anyone's guess.

At the moment I am happy that manufacturers are competing for our money. Also, thankful that FCA is giving this another attempt as against others like GM who choose to pack up and leave. I can only hope that our brethren (with a higher budget ) can support FCA till they come up with something which is targetted at me.

[Cooltronics]

Originally Posted by GTO

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant pricing .

And trust me, it's one heck of a car. I took her out a couple of times, including a highway run. S-o-l-i-d build, sweet 2.0L diesel, smooth gearshift (first Fiat product whose gear stick & me see eye to eye), balanced road manners, nice steering (especially for an EPS), satisfactory interior quality (no wow factor though, straightforward design), AWD hardware etc. Believe you me, she has long legs and is actually a lot of fun to drive on the open road (by SUV standards). That 2.0 diesel is awesome. Jeep better not share this engine with others . It's a competitive advantage.

Downsides = Small, narrow cabin and hatchback-like rear seat in terms of size & space (strict 4 seater). Rear legroom is just adequate, although not excessive by any measure. Ride quality is liveable, but nowhere as plush as the Duster & Hexa. In the Compass, you will feel the bad roads, and potholes at low - mid speeds too. Cabin goes through noticeable side-to-side movement when going over a broken road in the city (try the same in a Duster - big difference). Lastly, its smaller in size than you'd expect after looking at the pictures.
.

I love the way you summarise and your crisp feedback on good and bad is always SPOT ON !
I drove Hexa yesterday and your similar post in that thread was echoing.

No wonder - many of us search "GTO" on such long threads to know the bottom-line if running short of time

[RavenAvi]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

The big mystery remains unanswered.

On what basis did they announce the winner of the price prediction contest? The winning entry was 18,63,280/- if I remember correctly and he hasnt got it close to any of the variants.

Maybe the winner was announced because he guessed the closest to the pricing of the petrol Limited AT & the diesel Limited (O).

Or maybe it was just a red herring to keep the suspense going.

As for the Compass's pricing and it's possibility of pulling sales away from other established competitors, overpriced or otherwise - dealership network and ease of after-sales-service will have a big role to play for actual sales numbers, despite how exemplary the pricing range is.

People still have a mental block against Fiat and FCA products because of the limited service reach/servicing issues + parts procurement problems. I am sure FCA would have addressed the latter because of the high levels of localisation the Compass comes with, and they have also done a wonderful thing by making most of their workshops Mopar-ready (as announced yesterday), so now it's just a matter of gaining the customer's trust, even with their existing limited reach.

They cannot afford to sit back and let things roll, like they have been doing with their existing Fiat products - rather, with such a fantastic product and at such compelling prices, they need to support it as much as they can so that the Compass has a good chance of scoring well at the sales' box office.

[lovetorque]

All speculations and predictions are all over with a spot-on pricing by FCA, can’t ask for less. Kudos FCA. It would be now interesting to see how many tbhpians active in this thread will be turning as prospective customer.
Now Compass is not just a compelling upgrade for the compact SUV, pseudo SUV and compact cross over buyers, but a fantastic alternative for the D segment sedans, not forgetting the shortcoming like lower boot space or rear leg space compared with.
If I were in market now, Compass is no brainier. Only doubt will be the variant to opt for! The case is even stronger owing to the fact that some of the competing products to Compass abroad are priced much higher in India.Long term sustainability and success will all depend on the after sales support though. I am optimistic here this time.
Time to have a detailed official review on Compass.

[jaganpec2002]

I really couldn't understand why people keep calling JEEP is an unknown brand. The popularity of this thread and the excitement it created is proof enough that JEEP indeed a brand that makes a difference when you hear it. Everybody has heard of JEEP (though they relate it to Thar) and you can see when everyone who has seen it come out and say they could not understand why their missus love it so much. The primary reason is cause it is a "JEEP". Say SUV to your family many may not understand but say JEEP and they would nod. Thats the advantage JEEP has as a brand.

Coming to Creta, I don't believe they would reduce their price. But what it could do is to limit Creta from increasing their prices further and provide more features in their existing model. When Creta was first introduced I remember the base model didn't have Airbags or ABS but after Breeza it has changed. So Creta would add more features to their existing line up for sure.

Will there be cross shopping between Creta and Compass? With Creta 1.6 CRDI(O) at 14L and with Compass diesel starting at 15.5L, I believe there would be. You can check with every member what is the budget they started with to buy a car and what they ended up with .

[Arjun Reddy]

Agree on the great pricing of the Compass, however I have this feeling that FCA got the whole variant line up wrong.

The non availability of a diesel auto will deter a whole lot of customers from cross shopping from the D segment sedans and SUVs.

The 6 airbag option not being available on lower trims will deter the C segment safety conscious customers from cross shopping/ upgrading to the Compass.

FCA should have at least provided the 6 airbag option from the Logitude (O) variants and above or even the Limited. What was FCA thinking? You need 6 airbags only if you are off roading?

Just strong engineering and great mechanicals don't sell in India. Come to think of this, automatics are a norm today even the Alto has an AMT available.

I expect Hyundai to now react with a top spec 6 airbag Creta automatic to counter Jeep's entry level variants.

[feluda86]

This car has the potential to fill the void that exists between 15 lacs and 22 lacs. If it performs reasonably well, it would kill sales of certain variants of City, Creta, BR-V, S-Cross and other over-priced cars of a segment lower. In the long run, success in this price bracket might encourage manufacturers to move away from the strategy of over pricing one or two variants of a lower segment car to fill in the gap (read: make more money) and bring back cars like Civic to the Indian market (and lower prices of Corolla and the likes).

[budgam.boonyi]

I don't know how well jeep products hold up in India, but in North America FCA vehicles are almost always rated the lowest in term of reliability, specially by Consumer Reports. Many Mechanics I have talked to over here in Canada call Jeeps rust buckets, and many exclaim "Why do poeple buy them!!". I would be nervous about putting 20 Big ones on a Jeep and only after a year maybe even 2 years of launch. The Grand Cherokee has a much better reputation.

Also the compass is mostly based on the Renegade platform, and even the trail hawk rated ones they sell are 4*4 posers considering the jeep badges.

"What's Different This Time?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmcycKh0Q5Q&t=197s

Hopefully they overcome this and come out stronger! Love Jeep & Dodge products, they are part of the last few brands that build cars for the fun loving person, convention be damned. Love the "Lets see what happens when we put the biggest engine we can find/cram!" attitude.