Fiat Chrysler Automobiles on Tuesday launched two of its global sports utility vehicles (SUVs) — Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Grand Cherokee in India — priced between ₹71.59 lakh and ₹1.12 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi).

While the Wrangler Unlimited is priced at ₹71.59 lakh, the Cherokee, which will be available in three variants — Cherokee Limited, Cherokee Summit and Cherokee SRT — priced at ₹93.65 lakh, ₹1.03 crore and ₹1.12 crore respectively.

One of the dealers BusinessLine spoke to said that pricing is slightly higher than what was expected.

All the flagship SUVs will be imported as completely built units (CBUs) and will be available at three cities —Ahmedabad from Thursday, followed by New Delhi and Chennai in September.

“The Mumbai outlet will open in October, along with a second outlet in New Delhi, both before Diwali, followed by Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kochi and Bengaluru,” Kevin Flynn, President and Managing Director, FCA India, said here.

Original experience FCA plans to focus on providing the original Jeep experience to customers, as part of its retail strategy in order to bring them closer to virtues of the Jeep brand and its product capabilities, he said.

“We have invested $280 million in our facility at Ranjangaon, near Pune, to mobilise our localisation strategy. We are on track with our plans to manufacture and roll out an all-new, premium Jeep SUV from our plant in 2017,” Flynn said.

The launch of Jeep in India marks a double milestone in the history of the brand as this year the company is also celebrating the 75th anniversary of Jeep worldwide, he said.

The Wrangler Unlimited (4x4) is powered by 2.8-litre EcoDiesel, four-cylinder engine with maximum power of 200PS @3600rpm and maximum torque of 460Nm @1600-2600rpm.

It is a single variant available in 5-speed transmission.

The Jeep Grand Cherokee —Summit and Limited — are powered by 3-litre EcoDiesel engines with maximum power of 243PS @3600rpm and maximum torque of 570Nm @ 2000rpm. They have 8-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifts.

The Grand Cherokee SRT is the biggest of them all in terms of engine size — 6.4-litre HEMI V8 (petrol) with maximum power of 475PS @6250 rpm and maximum torque of 624 Nm @4100rpm. It has 8-speed automatic transmission with paddle shift.

Price-sensitive market One has to watch and see how the company generates customers in India as analysts say that India is a sensitive market in terms of pricing and customers may go for tried and tested vehicles from competitors such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes-Benz. “We had got enquiries from 80-100 people, but now we have to see how much we can convert them to customers as we were waiting for the prices to be announced,” said a dealer, requesting anonymity.

He said it would be tough to convert the enquiries into sales for at least 10 per cent of the enquiries.

Apex court order Also, the regulations like diesel tax and the Supreme Court’s recent order to levy one per cent cess on the ex-showroom price of diesel vehicles with an engine capacity above 2000cc in Delhi-NCR, would make buyers think about purchasing such vehicles.

But, Flynn said the strategy is driven by policy uncertainty and such moves are a challenge as they (Fiat) did not expect it.

He also said that such policies and legislations steer and drive different sectors and companies will have to work around them.

The writer was in Jodhpur at the invitation of FCA India

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