Jeep Renegade facelift finally coming

Jeep has confirmed it will finally launch the facelifted Jeep Renegade in Australia around September — more than a year after it was revealed at the Turin motor show in June 2018 — but won’t say if or when it will offer one of two new three-row large SUVs being readied in North America.

Speaking at the launch of the fourth-generation Jeep Wrangler last week, Jeep Australia boss Steve Zanlunghi said the 2019 Jeep Renegade will go on sale here “in the third or fourth quarter” of this year.

Previously, Jeep Australia said the upgraded version of its smallest model, which brings mild exterior design changes and a new range of turbocharged powertrains, would arrive here by the end of last year, when sales were down by almost 77 per cent to just 163 vehicles.

So far this year Renegade sales are another 48.5 per cent down, almost trickling to a standstill with 35 sold – representing 0.1 per cent of a small SUV segment led by the Mitsubishi ASX and Mazda CX-3, which found more than 19,000 and 16,000 homes respectively last year.

Zanlunghi said the 2019 Jeep Renegade — which brings fresh bumpers and LED lighting at both ends, plus new technologies like autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping assist, blind-spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control – would remain a “niche” model and that its local launch remains on schedule.

“Renegade is part of the [Jeep Australia] line-up. We’ve invested in homologation and it’s a staggered launch – India, the US and now Asia-Pacific,” he said.

Powertrain options for the 2019 Jeep Renegade won’t be revealed until closer to its Australian launch, but in other markets it is now available with a new 89kW 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and a 1.3-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder with 112 and 134kW outputs.

A plug-in hybrid version of the pint-size Jeep Renegade was also revealed at the Geneva show in March, pairing the larger engine with a rear-mounted electric motor to offer an EV range of about 50km.

As with the hybrid version of the new Jeep Wrangler under development, Zanlunghi said plug-in versions of the Renegade and Compass small SUVs were unlikely for Australia.

“If the demand was there we’d bring them here, but it also depends on government support and [charging] infrastructure. Electric vehicles were less than one per cent of the market last year,” he said.

Priced from $26,290, Australia’s Jeep Renegade is currently offered with a trio of ageing four-cylinder petrol engines: an entry-level 81kW 1.6, mid-spec 103kW 1.4 turbo and a range-topping 129kW 2.4.

Beyond this month’s new Wrangler, the facelifted Renegade, all-new Jeep Gladiator pick-up due in the first half of next year and a number of special-editions (including special-edition Night Eagle versions of the Cherokee and Grand Cherokee), Zanlunghi would not confirm any new Jeep models for Australia.

Asked about the forthcoming Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer flagship and another all-new three-row large SUV based on the upcoming fifth-generation Grand Cherokee, he said: “Any vehicle is available to us if we can make a business case for it”.

While the Cherokee-based seven-seat Grand Commander SUV is produced in China only in left-hand drive, it remains unclear whether Jeep’s two large three-row SUVs -- the all-new Grand Wagoneer range-topper and all-new seven-seat version of the next Grand Cherokee — will be sold in Australia.

In its previous five-year business plan announced in 2014, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles promised a three-row Jeep SUV by 2018, and last year it “deferred” the model to 2020. Some sources now say all three big new Jeep SUVs will be revealed by the end of this year before going on sale globally in 2020.

Apart from those three models, Jeep’s latest five-year business plan ending in 2022 committed to a new Renegade, facelifted Compass, new Cherokee, new mid-size seven-seat SUV, the introduction of the DesertHawk nameplate and an electrified version of every model including four EVs and 10 PHEVs. However, the Grand Wagoneer was listed only for NAFTA.

Without offering any sales forecasts, Zanlunghi said the new Wrangler and its Gladiator dual-cab ute derivative, for which Australia will be the biggest market outside the US, will increase sales for the struggling Jeep brand Down Under.

The American off-road brand’s Australian sales dropped by more than 11 per cent to 7326 last year and are a further 27.5 per cent down to April this year.

“In the back half of this year you’ll see an increase [in sales]. We will have healthy, controlled growth and steady dealer throughput.” he said.

“A big part of the sales [decline] has to do with exchange rates. We are heavily impacted by the strength of the US dollar. The Aussie dollar will get stronger compared to the US and we’ll have a number of special-editions,” said Zanlunghi, who added that improved production quality and technical training at dealership level has already led to improved customer satisfaction.

Without revealing volumes, the Jeep Australia chief said warranty claims had reduced by 52 per cent year on year in 2018, when costly vehicle buy-backs were also down 35 per cent.

What’s coming from Jeep Australia:
Wrangler Mk4 -- May
Cherokee Night Eagle – June
Grand Cherokee Night Eagle – June
Renegade facelift – Sep
Gladiator pick-up – H1 2020
Grand Wagoneer -- TBC
Grand Cherokee Mk5 – TBC
New unnamed three-row large SUV – TBC
New unnamed three-row medium SUV – TBC
Renegade, Compass, Wrangler PHEVs – TBC
New Renegade and Cherokee – TBC