SPY PICS: Facelift for Jeep Renegade

Jeep's smallest SUV — for now — is about to get its first facelift since being launched in Australia in 2015.

And it appears the MY19 Renegade update will - externally at least - be confined to just the front and rear ends, although the camouflage does such a good job of hiding the details that we are largely left to speculation.

It's reasonable to expect that — like Jeep's facelifted Cherokee — the main area for attention, at both front and rear ends, will centre on the easiest things to change without massive expense: the bumper mouldings.

That said, the locations and shapes of the headlights and indicators peeking through the disguise suggests that both lens shapes and locations will remain as before.

The main change is likely to be in the lower air intake, which could be a little more defined, jutting out prominently below the seven-slot grille to create a more massive face.

At the back, similar ploys are likely to apply. The tail-lights with their imbedded cross patterns don't appear to be in line for any refurbishing, while the bumper mouldings - with unchanged locations for the in-built reversing lights - are impossible to decipher.

Word is that the Renegade will continue with the same engine and driveline options - 1.6-litre and 2.4-litre aspirated, 1.4-litre turbo, front-drive and AWD - and basic safety tech including seven airbags.

As updates go it all appears, visually at least, to be pretty minimal. Whether it will come with adjustments to equipment, or pricing, will only be revealed when the update arrives in Australia late this year.

The Renegade could certainly do with some help: Only 704 examples of the diminutive, quirky Jeep were sold in 2017, down on the 1051 units sold in 2016.

In a segment where the top-selling Mitsubishi ASX managed 19,403 sales last year, the Renegade's presence is microscopically small.