In August 2020, even the much costlier Ford Endeavour outsold the compass as the full-size SUV garnered 637 units as opposed to just 468 units for the Compass
FCA India introduced the Jeep brand back in 2016 with the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee being the first models. Their overtly priced nature and premium market positioning led to them not garnering any big sales numbers. The scenario changes when the more accessible made-in-India Jeep Compass arrived in July 2017.
The Compass did bring a fresh breathe of air into the mix and it resulted in more customers flocking to own the SUV. In its heyday, the model registered around 2,500 units on average every month and riding on the momentum, FCA expanded the brand’s reach across the country. It reached 25,000 unit sales within a year of its local launch.
The Ranjangaon facility acts as the production hub for the Compass’ RHD version and is exported to international markets. However, relying on a single product for garnering sales volume has hurt the brand badly. Despite the American SUV manufacturer’s best efforts to regularly introduce new variants and special editions, the Compass’ volume figures did not improve.
As expected and it was down below the four digit mark monthly in recent years. For instance, the Jeep Compass’ sales in August 2020 stood at 468 units as against 605 units during the same period last year with 23 per cent YoY de-growth. In the previous month of July 2020, the Compass garnered only 400 unit sales.
In comparison, the Ford Endeavour, which is more expensive and positioned in a higher segment, recorded 637 units as opposed to just 468 units for the Compass. It is clear that the lack of new products over the last three years is definitely hurting the volumes of Jeep in India.
It must be noted that in just over a year of its market debut, Kia is going to introduce its third product and the expansive range has certainly been paying dividends. Jeep is expected to launch a substantial update for the Compass in early 2021. With a host of exterior and interior changes, more new features and technologies will be part of the package.
The brand is working on a sub-four-metre SUV for the domestic customers while the three-row UV based on the Compass is in the pipeline too in the near future. We can’t help but wonder whether the upcoming new SUVs are too late as their arrival is possible only later next year or in 2022.