Jeep® Renegade North Star Edition Breaks Cover In Japan

Jeep® Renegade North Star Edition Breaks Cover In Japan​

Exclusive Style Meets Real Jeep Capability In A Limited-Run Hybrid SUV​

Jeep® is giving its popular B-segment SUV a bold new personality in Japan with the launch of the Renegade North Star Edition. This limited-production model balances rugged Jeep attitude with premium outdoor-inspired style. Only 150 units will be available through Jeep dealerships across Japan, making this a rare treat for Renegade fans and collectors.

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Kind of lost in all the new product conversation is the now missing Jeep Renegade. Will it ever return? Is there a viable segment for one? Is there a place to build it in the US? No way can small economy vehicles exist as a profitable volume import any longer.
The decision by President Trump to green light these micro vehicles for manufacture and sale domestically raises a major question about low profit products, that must be built in high cost American factories that currently don’t exist. The investment, which would be considerable, would, in my opinion, necessitate a multi platform factory that builds compact and sub-compact products in a very cost conscious designed facility. The product range is massive from small SUVs, hatchbacks, sedans, pickups, vans, sports cars and micro vehicles. If Stellantis truly wishes to make affordability and choice a fundamental characteristic of a reborn American operation, the investment and planning will be substantial and risky. If the UAW buys into this idea, it may have to alter its employment structures to create affordability in labor domestically. I believe the inability to date of the Fiat 500 to capture interest in America makes for serious consideration of it all. This, perhaps, quick decision in the White House conference meeting might be an enormous one when one thinks about it. Indeed, from little acorns mighty oaks do grow. Think about it. Lots of acorns here. Lots of profitable oaks could grow. Do we dare?

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Kind of lost in all the new product conversation is the now missing Jeep Renegade. Will it ever return? Is there a viable segment for one? Is there a place to build it in the US?

The replacement for the Jeep Renegade, when it was announced by the previous CEO, was to be a low cost battery electric vehicle. There has been a lot of silence about this model, especially since in the space of a year, that particular CEO who was championing the program is gone. Meanwhile the person who wasn't supposed to be elected the US President got elected. The resulting Presidential administration has eliminated carbon taxes, rolled back CAFE and stopped the EV mandates. The tariffs which have been implemented also puts Jeep into a bind because the Renegade replacement was supposed to come from either Eastern Europe or the Southern Mediterranean region.

Mainstream media is not going to be honest about the CAFE rollbacks. The person Trump replaced in the White House after the 2016 election was a socialist who did not believe in a free market. Remember "Cash for Clunkers". During that administration the CAFE rules were changed with a formula to give larger vehicles a break. Pickup trucks got huge while small gasoline fueled vehicles disappeared from the market. That formula will probably be eliminated because Americans can't afford what is currently offered in our market.

Left leaning politicians hate Kei cars. Although Federal law allows for small low speed vehicles, the only places which seem to allow for them are in Red states and districts. What was said in that Oval Office meeting does raise some questions. No doubt the President saw Kei cars when he was in Asia, but on the other hand, the VW Beetle he also mentioned was an A-segment vehicle. The first question is , How small is small? The Dodge Aries and Plymouth Reliant sat on 100" wheelbases. That is on the limit for the B-segment class. Nearly all the K-based Chrysler products marketed during the 1980's through the 1990's were either B or C-segment in size.

The Fiat Grande Panda is an Omni/ Horizon for this decade. Most likely the Jeep Renegade replacement will also share the same platform. While the Grande Panda is a B-sized car, there are other Stellantis vehicles built on the same platform which are C-sized. I expect the Renegade replacement to be in the C-segment. If the push in Auburn Hills is really on for small affordable vehicles then the CDJR and F brands could each have a product coming from an American facility.

That I know of Stellantis hasn't offered any Kei sized products. I discuss what the Fiat Topolino is in another thread. With the unraveling of the CAFE standards the equation for building small entry level vehicles in America has changed dramatically.

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