Fiat’s Made in India Jeep to be named C SUV

If you have been an ardent fan of jeeps in English movies and wanted to drive trek a rugged terrain, we have some good news. Fiat would be launching the famed American SUV brand Jeep in India under the name C SUV. What’s more interesting is that this SUV would be made in India. Yes, you read that correct. To avoid paying a 180% import tax, Fiat Chrysler, the parent of the brand chose to go ahead with ‘Make in India’ ones.

At present, you can import SUV under Jeep brand but that will cost you over Rs 50 lakh. However, when Fiat’s make in India C SUVs will get launched in the second quarter of 2017, this price tag might surely get revised.

Interestingly, Fiat Chrysler wants to make India one of the global manufacturing hubs to export the right-hand version to several countries so as to achieve economies of scale. To begin with, C SUV will be exported to South Africa, Britain, Australia and some of the south-east Asian countries. "It begins in 2017, and we will scale up gradually."

Kevin Flynn, president and MD of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has said that the company will manufacture C SUV at the Fiat Chrysler-Tata Motors joint manufacturing location at Ranjangaon in Maharashtra. While the two companies had parted ways in joint distribution and sales, they still manufacture cars from a common factory.

"It is a great factory and has great capabilities. We will invest $280 million for the Jeep assembly and are confident that this will do justice to the brand,” a news report in The EE

The company also plans to sup a separate sales network for the Jeep portfolio and Flynn said that this would be targeted at the metro markets and big towns. "However, we will provide an opportunity to some of our dealer partners when we open Jeep outlets."

The company is identifying suppliers and key component vendors for sourcing the parts for the new product.

Flynn, however, said that the C-SUV will also be manufactured at some other locations across the world, but these would be left-hand driven models. The company had earlier deferred plans for launching the Jeep in India around three years back due to the economic slowdown.

(Image: Reuters)