Jeep on the comeback trail

Five new models and a renewed focus on the customer experience will see Jeep Australia return to sales growth for the first time since 2014, says the American off-road brand.

Fresh from releasing the fire-breathing new Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, Jeep landed its all-new Compass small SUV in Australia in December 2017, priced from under $29,000.

Then there’s the updated Cherokee mid-sizer due by mid-2018, the all-new Jeep Wrangler later in the year, and then a facelifted – and potentially repositioned (read: cheaper) – Jeep Renegade, which will go on sale in Australia at the end of 2018.

With talk of more Trackhawk models – this time based on the Compass and Cherokee – not to mention a new sub-compact SUV at the bottom end and an extra-large seven-seat SUV in the form of the Grand Wagoneer at the other, morale is improving.

The boss of Jeep in this country, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia CEO Steve Zanlunghi, told motoring.com.au that new product will always help to sell more cars, but that changes within the company and at the dealer level would start having a positive impact on sales.

"If you look at the last couple of years it's been a sales decline, but I think we're in a position in 2018 to post a sales increase for the Jeep brand,” he said.

Aided by a new five-year vehicle warranty, the company is keen to win back the trust of buyers burned by vehicle recalls and sub-par vehicle servicing, and the US-born but Australian-raised CEO didn't shy away from Jeep's recent (and torrid) past.

"We got into a trouble when you look back at 2014. We were growing but it was uncontrolled growth. We couldn't handle the influx in the service departments. Our car dealers weren't geared up for that. They are now," he stated.

In 2014 Jeep sales topped 30,000, but in 2015 sales dropped by 20 per cent to around 24,000. By 2016 Jeep Australia sales had slumped by more than 50 per cent to 12,620, and last year they fell another 34 per cent 8270.

As Jeep's global sales continued rising, the golden child of the FCA group fell off a cliff Down Under, depite booming SUV sales here. Zanlunghi says 2018 will be different but is not underestimating the damage that has been done.

"Australia is a big country geographically but it's a small country population wise, and if you don't do the right thing by the customer, you can get a reputation that can stick for a while and it's tough to shake it.

"We used 2017 as a year to build the foundations to make sure we got everything right in anticipation of launching these new vehicles. Because we know we had some things we needed to fix on our end with our network and internally, which we did," he said.

He insisted that customer satisfaction levels were rising rapidly and with new versions of the Jeep Compass, Cherokee, Wrangler and Renegade arriving in 2018, along with the company’s new five-year warranty and lifetime roadside assistance, Zanlunghi is confident that Jeep sales will rise in 2018.

Vehicles like the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk will also help the cause, powered by an insane 522kW/868Nm 6.2-litre supercharged V8 that’s capable of blasting the big brash SUV to 100km/h in a supercar-like 3.7 seconds for just $134,900.

"It's one of those vehicles that's a halo," said Zanlunghi.

"It will definitely build the reputation of the brand. There's nothing else like it out there. With 522kW, it’s the third most powerful vehicle in Australia and it's an SUV."

Other vehicles that Zanlunghi didn't talk about included the upcoming Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer.

Not to be confused with the Jeep Grand Commander, which will only be sold in the China and is based on a stretched version of the Cherokee's platform (Compact US Wide or CUSW), the new Wagoneer models will be monstrously large US-centric SUVs.

Based on a version of the ladder frame that underpins the new RAM 1500 pick-up truck, which itself could become a global model, the Wagoneer models will built near Detroit in Michigan and are expected to be sold post-2020 in North America, but have not been confirmed for right-hand drive.

If the green-light is given for both left- and right-hand drive Wagoneers, however, you can bet your bottom dollar Jeep Australia will jump at the chance to offer what will almost certainly be V8-powered heavyweights.

As Jeep looks to record its first positive sales year since 2014, the company is also bullish about 2019, with the expected arrival of the Jeep Wrangler ute, which is expected to be called Scrambler. If it's priced right, the dual-cab Wrangler ute could eclipse the Grand Cherokee as Australia's favourite Jeep.

"We've got our internal expectations," Zanlunghi told motoring.com.au about the Scrambler's sales potential, managing to keep his excitement under control.

"But right now we're focusing on 2018. In 2019 we can regroup and have a conversation about the next step of the Jeep journey in Australia."