Jeep drops Renegade prices again

JEEP has dropped the price of its struggling Renegade compact SUV for a second time since its Australian launch in October last year.

Pricing for the Italian-built crossover has dropped by as much as $3000, depending on the variant, following an earlier range-wide price decrease in January of up to $2500.

The Renegade range now kicks off from $26,000 plus on-road costs for the two-wheel-drive 1.6-litre manual Sport, a $2000 reduction, while the 1.4-litre 2WD Sport auto is down by $3000 to $28,000.

The 2WD Longitude, and Limited as well as the flagship four-wheel-drive Trailhawk have dropped by $1000 apiece and are now priced from $32,000, $35,000 and $39,000 respectively.

The new pricing brings it closer to some of the big hitters in the crossover segment, such as the $24,990-$34,340 Honda HR-V, the $25,990-$39,990 Nissan Qashqai and quirkier fare that it is more likely to be shopped against such as the $26,990-$29,990 Citroen C4 Cactus.

It is now positioned comfortably below the closely related Fiat 500X that is priced from $28,000 to $39,000.

When the model arrived in October 2015, pricing kicked off from $29,500 and hit a high of $41,500 for the trail-rated AWD Trailhawk.

At the time Jeep was criticised for pricing its new baby too high to be competitive, but the company said currency fluctuations with the United States were to blame.

Since its launch, the Renegade has sold in middling numbers compared with its small-SUV rivals.

At the top of the heap is Mazda’s popular CX-3 with 7582 sales to the end of May, followed by Mitsubishi’s ageing ASX on 6593, Nissan’s Qashqai with 5077 and the HR-V on 5048.

In the same period Jeep has sold 423 Renegades, more than its Patriot stablemate (346) but less than the Compass (597), and enough to keep it ahead of the Fiat 500X (234).

It is also being beaten in the sales race by the similarly off-road-capable Suzuki Jimny, which retails for just $20,990 and has found 438 homes so far this year. The Renegade is also ahead of the Skoda Yeti (240), Suzuki S-Cross (203), Peugeot 4008 (336) and the Citroen C4 Cactus (103).

While the key players continue to tussle for rankings in the previously lucrative segment, as GoAuto reported earlier this week, the rapidly growing compact SUV segment appears to be slowing.

Last year, sales of small SUVs below $40,000 grew an unprecedented 23.8 per cent, with almost every car company clamouring to compete in the segment, but that figure has fallen to just 2.9 per cent this year.

2016 Jeep Renegade pricing*

Sport 1.6 2WD	$26,000 (-$2000)
Sport 1.4 2WD (a)	$28,000 (-$3000)
Longitude 2WD (a)	$32,000 (-$1000)
Limited 2WD (a)	$35,000 (-$1000)
Trailhawk AWD (a)	$39,000 (-$1000)

*Excludes on-road costs