A Different Kind Of Jeep

It’s a first for Jeep and something that will make the purists choke. But how does the Renegade actually perform? JACO KIRSTEN tries to answer the question.

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Imagine yourself sitting in Italy for the launch of a Jeep. It doesn’t make much sense, right? You should rather experience this in America. Maybe in Moab, Utah. Or on the Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains. But the Renegade isn’t your average Jeep – it’s the result of a joint project between Fiat and Jeep. Now, before you choke on your muesli or pork crackling, you need a short history lesson. When Chrysler, Jeep’s owner, threw in the towel in 2009 when the world economy took a nosedive, Fiat, a pension fund, and the American and Canadian governments bought the company together. As the new company’s financial situation improved, Fiat continued buying out the other shareholders until it gained full ownership in 2014 and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, or FCA, was established.

Right, so that’s the background. One of FCA’s main goals of their 2014–2018 business plan is a certain growth in sales – sales where especially the Jeep name has to help. And that explains why they already started planning a compact 4x4, aimed at city slickers, a few years ago. If you quickly had to think of a competitor it would probably be something like the Mini Countryman or maybe even a Mazda CX-3. But hey, they’re not Jeeps.

Under the surface