The introduction of the Renegade has seen a change in customer profile for Jeep – younger and more females said the brand’s chief Mike Manley.
“It’s really good news on both counts, it gives us much broader reach in terms of customers and the increase in showroom traffic is having a knock on effect for Cherokee. The average age of customers has dropped three or four years to mid 40s. We hope this carries over into the launch of the model in the US in mid-March.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The European-built Renegade, assembled at Fiat’s giant Melfi plant in Italy alongside the 500X, has been rolling out across the region since the end of last year. Manly said that Jeep is on target to hit his second five year plan to achieve 1.9m global sales by 2018.
Last year’s sales split was 76% in the US, 8% in Europe while 90,000 sales in China represented a 49% hike. Key to getting closer to 2m is Jeep’s ongoing local industrialisation plan, adding production at Melfi gives the brand more production bases with another being added soon in Brazil. Production will also be returning to China after a 10-year hiatus with two factories, one at the end of this year and the second during 2016.
The future of its plant in Toledo, the historic home of the Wrangler, remains in the the balance. A switch to aluminium for the next generation model may make production there unsustainable. Manley said city authorities have offered aid and a decision is expected later this month or during April.
Manley said: “it’s a decision we are not taking lightly, but what I will say is that Wrangler will never be produced outside the US.
Meanwhile, new models continue to emerge with a new C-segment SUV next year which will replace both the Compass and the Patriot between Renegade and Cherokee. In 2018, Jeep will launch the Grand Wagoneer above the Grand Cherokee taking the brand into luxury SUV territory.
Is there room for moving in the other direction with a smaller, A-segment model?
Manley added: “I will never say never because if you go back half a dozen years the B-SUV did not exist but that segment could hit 2m by 2019. Nothing is on the table for a small Jeep right now, though.”
