Jeep Wrangler To Compete With “Hardcore Rigs” In India

The Jeep Wrangler has been sold in India before, but they were brought in already assembled. Now they will be assembled in India. IndianAutosBlog reports that this should make the Wrangler more affordable.

Earlier this year, we reported to you that Jeep will soon commence local assembly of the Wrangler and the Grand Cherokee in India. The American carmaker has now announced that the made-in-India Jeep Wrangler will be launched in the country on March 15, 2021. That means the Wrangler will now be sold in India as a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) unit instead of it coming in as a Completely Built Unit (CBU). The Wrangler will be assembled at Jeep’s Ranjangaon facility, and to that effect, Jeep has announced an investment of INR 180 Crore (or about $25 million US) for local assembly in India.

The current-gen Jeep Wrangler first debuted in India in August 2019, when the carmaker launched it in the country at a price of INR 63.94 lakh (about $88,000 US). In 2020, Jeep followed it up with the launch of the Wrangler Rubicon variant for a price of INR 68.94 lakh (about $95,000 US). The first batch of Wranglers was sold out last year itself. With local assembly of the SUV, prices are expected to go down by a considerable margin. The Wrangler rivals other hardcore off-roaders like the Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon and the Land Rover Defender in the Indian market, but it will now be significantly more affordable than them.

We do not expect any changes on the made-in-India Wrangler from the imported model that was already on sale. Under the hood, the Wrangler will be powered by a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that makes 265hp and 400 Nm of peak torque. The engine will continue to come mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Power is obviously sent to all four wheels via a four-wheel drive setup along with a low range transfer case. The Wrangler also comes equipped with electrically activated differential locks and a new 4WD Auto mode that brilliantly manages the SUV in tricky off-road conditions.

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