The Jeep brand has celebrated its 70th anniversary with a refreshed and renewed model line along with ambitious growth plans for Europe, to increase sales from just 15,000 last year to 125,000 by 2014.
President and chief operating officer Mike Manley, who is also head of Chrysler’s international operations, is confident he can achieve this with the help of the company’s alliance with Fiat and an all new B-segment SUV due in late 2013.
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He believes that, in three years, the European market will be back to pre-economic meltdown levels at around 16.2m vehicles, with SUV sales growing from 800,000 to 1.2m.
Speaking at the European launch of the new Wrangler and Grand Cherokee, Manley said: “The past 14 months have been spent renewing and refreshing the product line-up. We have transformed the product offering and there is more to come with a replacement for the Liberty/Cherokee in 2013 and the all new B-segment SUV.”
In Europe, Manley said Jeep is well positioned for growth with what he described as the brand’s best-ever line-up – Compass, Wrangler and Grand Cherokee. “Global sales last year were up 24% with every model showing double digit growth. We are already running 36% ahead in 2011. Europe is a key market and we grew 7% in the first quarter of this year.”
Grand Cherokee, he said, is the first vehicle to benefit from the alliance between Chrysler and Fiat. It features the first application on a Jeep model of Fiat clean diesel technology, with the Multijet II system fitted on the new three-litre turbodiesel.
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By GlobalDataIn addition, the start of production saw the first introduction in Chrysler’s manufacturing organisation of Fiat’s manufacturing system at the Jefferson plant in Michigan.
Nigel Land, director of Chrysler and Jeep’s British operations, said the business plan is to sell 650-800 Grand Cherokees this year and 2,000 in the first full year in 2012.
The new Wrangler is currently being launched to UK dealers. Land said: “Our numbers are a lot more modest for the Wrangler which we are positioning as a very much a lifestyle vehicle limited to about 200 vehicles a year.”
