Jeep India recently launched the made-in-India Wrangler and before that, the company unleashed the Compass facelift. But the iconic American SUV-maker isn’t going to stop its SUV offensive in India so soon. The company has already announced that by 2022, it will be launching four made-in-India SUVs, two of which, we have already received. The other two are most likely going to be the Grand Cherokee and a 7-seater SUV based on the Compass.
Watch teaser
Previously, it was being assumed that the 7-seater Compass will be named ‘Patriot’ but now, a new video teaser released by Jeep suggests that the new 7-seater SUV could be called the new Jeep Commander.
More details
The new teaser video shows the letter “ER”, which indicates the end of the name. The name is already in use in China, where Jeep sells a 7-seater SUV with Grand Commander nameplate. However, Jeep will not get to use the name ‘Commander’ in India. Interestingly, the name Commander has been trademarked by Mahindra in India since 1991 and is valid till 2025. In India, Jeep has trademarked the name Patriot.
It is possible that this new SUV could be called Patriot in India.
It is pretty evident that the upcoming 7-seater SUV from Jeep is not going to be entirely similar to the Compass, just like the Alcazar. However, it seems like a few design cues have been borrowed from other models. The most apparent of them is the studded seven-slat grille flanked by sleek LED headlights, similar to that of the Grand Cherokee.
Talking about its expected specs, it will most likely borrow the same 2.0-litre diesel engine which does the job in the Compass. In the Compass, the diesel unit is tuned to deliver around 173 horses but we could see a bigger number in the case of the Patriot, to ferry around the extra heft. Reports also suggest that Jeep could also make use of Wrangler’s 2.0-litre high power turbo petrol engine which churns out 268 PS of power and 400 Nm of torque. This engine comes mated to a new 8-speed automatic transmission.
Talking about the feature list, it could be very similar to the Compass facelift. For instance, the Compass facelift’s cabin now comes draped in dual-tone and full-black combinations in leather and fabric upholstery, depending on the trim and variant. The centre console features a massive 10.1-inch floating screen infotainment system along with a digital instrument cluster.
The multi-function instrument cluster behind the steering wheel is now a much larger, 10.25-inch digital display and has 24 configurable content screens in it. Whereas the floating infotainment screen runs on the latest UConnect 5 software. It comes with wireless Apple Car Play and Android Auto, up to five custom profiles, and OTA updates. It also gets other additional bits such as wireless charging, a 360-degree remote camera, cruise control, powered liftgate, and powered front seats with ventilation and memory settings.
While the Patriot/Commander could debut overseas this year, we expect it to arrive in India only in the first half of 2022. It will lock horns with the Toyota Fortuner, Mahindra Alturas G4, MG Gloster, and Ford Endeavour. The SUV is likely to be priced from Rs 30 lakh (ex-showroom).