Jeep Compass will start its production in Italy from March 2020
- The FCA group made important decisions a few years ago, concerning the Fiat and Jeep brands. The carmaker had decided to focus the production of SUVs under Jeep brand and to transfer part of the production of these models to Europe, to the Italian site of Melfi. The Jeep Renegade (segment B) was therefore produced first and entirely on this plant, alongside the Fiat 500X which shares its platform and its engines. At the same time, the carmaker had decided to emphasis the production of Fiat models sold in Europe around the Panda and 500, which implied the termination of the Fiat Punto and Freemont.
- These decisions is the result of a strong increase of Jeep’s influence in the FCA group European production and at the same time a decrease of Fiat’s influence.
- In 2019, the Jeep brand already represented 26% of Italian production, twice as much as Alfa-Romeo (13%) and half as much as Fiat (54%). In March 2020, FCA will add a second Jeep model on the Italian site of Melfi, alongside the Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X: the Jeep Compass. It is currently made in Mexico for a worldwide distribution. From now on, the Compass sold in Europe will be produced on the Melfi site.
- The share of the Jeep brand in the Italian production will therefore increase further over the next few years. Taking into account the annual sales of Compass (72,000 units in 2018, 62,000 units in 2019), this percentage should increase to 33%. Taking the opportunity of this transfer, the Renegade and Compass models will now be available in a Plug-in Hybrid version (PHEV).
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