Published on Mar 4, 2014
Beauty shots of the all-new 2015 Jeep Renegade Trailhawk.
With the upcoming Jeep Renegade 2015, the largest domestic brand that is known for making all of its vehicle in U.S., Fiat Chrysler; Jeep, have showed a eminent twist in the tradition and have decided to unveil the 2015 model in Geneva March 2015.
For a pre-dominantly U.S. market, this will be the first Jeep in the series that will be built outside of the country. The car will be built at Fiat’s Melfi assembly plant that is located in Italy and it seems that the jeep enthusiasts won’t be much happy driving a car that is carrying an immigrant status.
The 2015 Jeep Renegade will feature either a swoopy design that can be seen in the Jeep Cherokee or a boxy design that can be seen in the Jeep Wrangler, said Ralph Gilles, the Design Chief. The Jeep Renegade 2015 will be larger than Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman and will be spacious and will have enough room space. The company has made the decision of choosing these above two designs on the basis of off-road capability and utility of the car.
The Jeep Renegade 2015 that will be available on both manual and automatic versions will be coming with two different four cylinder engines. One will be a turbocharged 1.4 litre with a horsepower of 160 and it will be for manual. The other one for automatic versions will be a 2.4 litre with a horsepower of 184.
The car will have a mileage of around 30 mpg with 2 wheel-drive and for four-wheel drive, it will be a little less. The jeep will have a select-terrain system for sand, snow, rock and mud conditions. The Jeep Renegade 2015 will start at a base price of $20,000.
SOURCEThe most conservative forecasts for the industry call for global sales of segment B SUVs, which includes the Renegade, to hit 2 million units by the end of 2015, Mike Manley, president and CEO of FCA's Jeep unit, said in an interview with Efe.
"It's a new segment that we have not had a presence in, which offers global scale and in which we are going to be very competitive," Manley said, referring to the Renegade.
Jim Morrison, marketing director for the Jeep brand, said the current line-up of vehicles was "missing a small Jeep as a new entry point in our array of products."
"Renegade gives us the capability to expand globally. Jeep accounts for around 70 percent of the international sales of FCA US (formerly known as the Chrysler Group), so it makes sense that a small Jeep will be the vehicle that helps us grow and adds new consumers to our customer base," Morrison told Efe.
Aesthetically, the vehicle was inspired by the original Jeep, which was designed to meet the needs of the U.S. military during World War II, and the successful Wrangler model.
"The basic idea behind the Renegade is to include everything that's interesting and fun about the Wrangler, and to put it in a package that is more 'acceptable' because we know the Wrangler is not for everyone," Mark Allen, director of design for Jeep, said.
Allen acknowledged that the Renegade's final design does not look like the initial sketches of the vehicle.
"In the end, it was clear that we were inspired by the Wrangler, with a raised windshield and front. The vehicle stands out from a distance due to its basic form. I'm not looking for a retro vehicle, but it has to be connected to our past. It's the beauty of big tires and a small vehicle that oozes all-surface," Allen said.
Renegade is also full of what Allen calls "Easter eggs," or small surprises that link the new vehicle to the original Jeep, such as the "Xs" that can be seen in the tail lights and on the vehicle's roof, and which were taken directly from the design of the gasoline cans on the backs of Jeeps used during the war.
Renegade will be available in four versions: Sport, Latitude (or Longitude, depending on the market), Limited and TrailHawk. EFE