[Jeepers]

Jeep is moving into India, but unfortunately the Renegade will not be a part of that initial launch. This news comes straight from Mike Manley, the automaker's head of international operations and Jeep.

Jeep made the decision to postpone the Renegade launch in India because of currency fluctuations and because the company "wasn't ready." I would think that the Jeep Renegade would be one of Jeep's best sellers in India. It's the cheapest and smallest Jeep in the lineup, which I would assume is perfect for the average Indian consumer.

India will instead receive the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler as its first vehicles from Jeep.

The eventual goal of jeep is to begin producing Jeeps in India. “If you are going to be successful with Jeep, you are going to have to localize vehicle production in India,” Manley said. Jeep has extra production capacity in a factory near Pune, so that could be an option for them.

Hopefully, India will receive the Renegade in a relatively short period of time. I think that India will be missing out until the Renegade gets there.

 

[tony]

that's unfortunate, i bet there were a lot of indians that were looking forward to seeing the renegade asap.

 

[ChickenBoy]

I suspect they can't make money out out them right now, because they're not locally build.

 

[tony]

That is possible.

Seems like it just comes down to them setting up a manufacturing plant in india and once that happens then we should hear about renegade sales in india

 

[Jeepers]

I think it comes down to manufacturing location too. They have plans to build them there eventually, so its just a matter of time. This is part of the result of having strict tariff laws. I blame India more than I blame Jeep.

 

[tony]

I think it comes down to manufacturing location too. They have plans to build them there eventually, so its just a matter of time. This is part of the result of having strict tariff laws. I blame India more than I blame Jeep.

that's right

the best indicator of the renegade finally starting to sell in india will be the completion of a jeep manufacturing facility in india.

 

[Winter]

I've spent extensive time in India, and will be heading back in December. I think moving a vehicle like this into India would have been a failure, it was smart of them to not launch it there.

 

[tony]

I've spent extensive time in India, and will be heading back in December. I think moving a vehicle like this into India would have been a failure, it was smart of them to not launch it there.

I don't know a single thing about india nor it's vehicle market aside from the fact that it needs cheap cars. so, why would moving a vehicle like this into india end up as a failure?

 

[Winter]

I don't know a single thing about india nor it's vehicle market aside from the fact that it needs cheap cars. so, why would moving a vehicle like this into india end up as a failure?

Because our idea of inexpensive and their idea is extremely different. In all of the time that I was there I can honestly say I never seen a $20K car...

Something like 60% of all NEW car sales in India amount to less than $4000.

Also, our best selling car sells 30K cars a month with a total US population of something like 310 million US citizens (Nissan Altima, $20Kish). The best car in India sells about 18K units with a total IN population of like 1.3 BILLION (Alto, something like $3000).

The average person in India makes less than $5k a year....

((EDIT!!!))This article says the average income is less that $1000 a year. I'm not sure how accurate it is - but after spending so much time there I believe it. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...ome-crosses-Rs-50000/articleshow/11707030.cms

 

[Jeepers]

OK those people won't be buying the Renegade, but there is an emerging middle class that is more of the target consumer. Cars are sold in India that aren't all little cheap Tatas. I think it is a shallow argument to say that cars over $20k won't sell in India because obviously they do get sold.

 

[Winter]

OK those people won't be buying the Renegade, but there is an emerging middle class that is more of the target consumer. Cars are sold in India that aren't all little cheap Tatas. I think it is a shallow argument to say that cars over $20k won't sell in India because obviously they do get sold.

Obviously they don't get sold that often. You can easily look up a list of the top selling cars in India and you won't find a single $20K car in the top 15 reported cars (I can't find a list of more than the top 15...but I think the top 15 makes my point). And I'd challenge someone to find a car that costs near that price point that has solid sales numbers.

To further my point, Carwale.com (Indias autotrader) has 6200 cars available for purchase in Delhi - 5200 of them cost less than $18K. 3706 of them cost less than $8k. 2400 of them cost less than $4k.

Your perception of middle class and theirs is completely different. You have to remember their housing costs, food costs, clothing, etc. are completely different (significantly lower)...their whole economy is completely different.

//edit// The Center for Global Development says that a "middle class" household in India makes between $4K-$15K a year. The "middle class" has more than doubled in size in the last 10 years, but the amount of money that qualifies them as middle class is still obviously well below our standard. LINK: http://www.cgdev.org/doc/2013_MiddleClassIndia_TechnicalNote_CGDNote.pdf //edit//

The shallow comment would imply that I am basing my opinion on internal thoughts, the problem is that none of what I said is an opinion...Google is there, feel free to use it.