Future Products: Chrysler group -- Compass, Patriot launch Jeep in new directions.
Along with the official but unsurprising news that it will produce the Dodge Caliber seen in concept form at the Geneva show this spring (replacing the Neon that dies in ’06), DaimlerChrysler’s U.S. division unveiled two entry-level Jeeps that—ta da!—also sit atop the Caliber’s platform.
Both the Jeep Patriot and Jeep Compass, below, debut at next month’s Frankfurt motor show. Each is a thinly veiled concept car ripe for market. They carry distinct Jeep sensibilities with differing targets. Patriot looks like a scaled-down Commander, squared up and squared off; there’s no mistaking its intent as a workhorse. Expect to see “Trail Rated” badges on the production model’s flanks.
Compass is more a fast and furious uphill racer, a broad-shouldered rally-crossover with many sports car cues, including red-stripe, low-profile tires on large five-spoke wheels, meant to do battle with the all-wheel-drive cars encroaching on the lower end of Jeep’s traditional market. Both new Jeeps are aimed at price segments below the current entry-level Wrangler model that starts at $18,730.
The Dodge and the two Jeeps will work in both the States and Europe. Eric Ridenour, newly anointed chief operating officer of the Chrysler Group, introduced a new family of four-cylinder gas engines, a joint venture with Hyundai and Mitsubishi. The three engines, which are said to give a 5 percent fuel economy boost over the current four-bangers, range in displacement from a 1.8-liter that develops 140 hp and 125 lb-ft of torque to a 2.0-liter with 150 hp and 140 lb-ft and to a 2.4-liter with 170 horses and 165 lb-ft. A 2.0-liter turbodiesel, a joint project with Volkswagen, boasts 130 horsepower and 229 ft-lb of torque. Initial plans call for only gasoline engines in North America.
Ridenour also showed a new CVT transmission that Chrysler will launch in Caliber. By bringing a CVT to market later than its competitors, DCX engineers say they developed computer algorithms that make their CVT not only 6 percent to 8 percent better in fuel economy, but also feel more similar to a conventional automatic gearbox.
Expect both Patriot and Compass to see production sometime next year.
Source: Autoweek
Future Products: Jeep Compass, Jeep Patriot
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