Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) India has announced that bookings for its locally produced Jeep Compass have hit the 10,000 milestone. The company had opened pre-bookings for the SUV on June 19 and launched it on July 31; customer deliveries began on August 6.

SIAM’s industry sales data, which marks despatches to dealers across the country, reveals a total of 935 units were sold in July 2017.

With a fast-growing waiting period for  vehicle delivery , the company has ramped up production of the SUV with two shifts, working six days a week, at the Ranjangaon plant near Pune.

FCA India's Ranjangaon plant has an annual vehicle production capacity of 160,000 units, a powertrain capacity of 350,000 engines and 300,000 transmission units. 

The aggressively priced Jeep Compass range in India starts with 1.4 Multi-Air Turbo Petrol ‘Sport’ 4x2 variant with a 6-speed manual transmission at Rs 14.95 lakh and tops with the 2.0 MultiJet Turbo Diesel ‘Limited (O)’ 4x4 variant with a 6-speed manual transmission Rs 20.65 lakh (both prices, ex-showroom, New Delhi).

The Jeep Compass is currently being retailed out of 50 Jeep-flagship and FCA outlets, across 47 cities. FCA India says it is expanding its sales network to 60 outlets by the end of this calendar year. 

According to Kevin Flynn, president and managing director, FCA India said, “Our go-to-market strategy has worked as planned and now we are focusing on execution. The Made-in-India Jeep Compass has gained remarkable traction in the market since we opened the order books in June. We are working with our plant to deliver the product to customers in the least possible time.”

FCA recently introduced its global service and customer care brand Mopar in India. The company says all FCA-authorised workshops across India are now Mopar-branded and the technicians trained to global standards and in diagnostic techniques to attend to all service-related issues should they arise. 

FCA India is bullish about riding the surging wave of consumer demand for SUVs in India with the Jeep Compass.

By pointing its Jeep Compass at a fast-growing India market, FCA will be looking to ride the wave of surging sales of SUVs. In 2016-17, the segment saw handsome 30 percent YoY growth. And in the April-July 2017 period, UVs have sold a total of 276,972 units (+15%). But there are also new rivals coming up, like the Tata Nexon, set to be launched later this month.     

Also read: India to play key role in FCA's global Jeep growth plan