Jeep has made it pretty evident that it is getting serious regarding its India operations and is planning on an aggressive expansion in the Indian sub-continent. This is the reason why the American carmaker didn’t take long to launch the Compass facelift here. Shortly after, we received the made-in-India Wrangler and now, the vehicle in pipeline is the hotly-anticipated Jeep Commander or in layman’s terms, 7-Seater Compass. The SUV has been spied testing in India for the first time and boy, it does have a strong road presence.
More details
The Jeep Commander will have to compete with big and burly SUVs of its segment and going by the images, it will figure its way around.
To make it visually different from its smaller sibling, Jeep has incorporated some aesthetic changes on the outside but the overall silhouette remains the same as the Compass. For instance, the Grand Commander will make use of larger doors to make the ingress and egress comparatively easier. The Grand Commander looks a bit more mature than the Compass, all thanks to its revised front fascia which includes slightly redesigned headlamps a more upright 7-slat grille, larger doors, lowered roof line, extended overhang and sharply designed rear bumper and tailgate. The rear section of the new Jeep 7-seater SUV looks similar to the Grand Wagoneer concept.
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. It could also make use of a hybrid powertrain.
It is expected to land here sometime later this year but that all depends on the timeline. The pandemic is playing a little spoilsport but we can expect it to dial back its fierceness in the coming few months. Once launched, the Grand Commander will lock horns with the likes of Toyota Fortuner and Ford Endeavour.