Opinion: The Next-Gen Jeep Compass Should Come To India

There hasn't been much chatter around the Jeep Compass lately, and that's largely due to the premium SUV remaining largely unchanged. With the new-gen Compass teased globally, there are reports that say it will not be coming to India. We feel that it should, but if done in specific ways.

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Understanding the Jeep Compass' Beginnings

It is important that we first understand the circumstances around the entry of Jeep in the Indian market. Fiat India was facing huge losses, while the lineup, consisting of the Grande Punto and the Linea was ageing and needed huge updates. The car maker's image was also marred due to poor service experience reported by many customers.

It was in 2017 that the then-parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles decided to bring the Jeep Compass. FCA was clear that it would be made locally and exported the rest of the world. Launched in July 2017 at a price tag of Rs 14.95 lakh, FCA was placing huge bets on the Compass, hoping it would be the product that turns things around for them.

Jeep Compass Sales Performance

The Compass went on to do exactly that, consistently selling around 2,500 units each month between September 2017 to December 2017. However, its strong start tapering off sometime around January to Feb 2018, with sales falling around 1,500 units, and ultimately going into the lower 1k units by December 2018. By 2019, FCA also chose to single its efforts towards the Jeep brand, thus effectively pulling the curtains down on Fiat's troubled journey in India.

Today, however, sales of the Compass have fallen into the lower three digits, and that is largely due to going the Renault Duster way; with Jeep giving it small tweaks here and there, but keeping the core product unchanged, and that can sometimes be harmful, as evidenced multiple times in this industry.

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What Should Jeep Do Now?

If Jeep wants to bring the next-gen Compass to India, they should design it keeping India in mind, and make it resemble the Grand Cherokee, given how much India loves big, boxy SUVs. Unlike the current car which comes with a more rounded design, the next-gen Compass should come with a boxier design and a flatter, muscular stance. From the teaser, we can also see the tail lights with a slight wraparound effect, similar to the Grand Cherokee.

The headlamps also appear to be rectangular, and the familiar Jeep seven-slat grille will also feature, but with a modern twist featuring an illuminated full-length pattern. The bonnet also appears to be higher, flatter and more squared-off compared to the current car.

Jeep has now confirmed that the next-gen Compass will be produced in Italy, and there will be a mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and even an all-electric guise. While the all-electric version should still be some years away, ideally Jeep should also bring in the mild-hybrid powertrain, while also hopefully continuing with a diesel powertrain.

We can expect the interiors to also be of premium quality, which is typical of Jeep cars. One of the reasons the Compass started off so strong initially was due to the fact that a high-end car maker was making itself more accessible to a wider audience base, giving a premium experience to first-time buyers.

In terms of features, we hope for Jeep to brim it up, with some level of ADAS along with many other things that it already gets, such as a 360-degree camera, power-adjustable front seats, a panoramic sunroof, climate control, automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, a high-definition sound system, a wireless charging system and more. Needless to say, it wouldn't be a Jeep without all-wheel drive.

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Prices for the current Compass begin from Rs 18.99 lakh (ex-showroom). A smaller Jeep bearing resemblance to the Grand Cherokee, with a decent choice of a mild-hybrid turbo-petrol and a diesel, all-wheel drive capability and an extensive features list, for a starting price of Rs 20.00 lakh (ex-showroom) sounds like a pretty great deal, at least in my opinion.

When the current Compass was launched back in 2017, there was a lot of push around the fact that it was developed keeping India in mind, and India also being among the key export and manufacturing hubs for Jeep globally. The car maker should perhaps use the same strategy once again and export to RHD markets by producing here.

Concluding Notes

According to reports, the next-generation Compass is not going to come to India, due to the development cost on the STLA-M platform exceeding Stellantis' targets by a certain margin. However, the abrupt resignation of Carlos Tavares as CEO of Stellantis may likely change things, given that he was known for cost-cutting measures.

With Stellantis also cancelling Maserati's investments of about Rs 13,000 crore, the parent company may possibly look to make use of it elsewhere, and why not it be here? An organization as big as Stellantis should not find it too difficult to localize the new Compass, given that it has already done it once before, and that too with another failing brand on its plate back then.