Jeep’s crossover spied again; this time wears a production body

A camouflaged mule of Jeep's upcoming entry-level crossover has been spied again. Spotted in Italy, the Jeep can been seen wearing a production body for the first time.The Fiat Group has been working on developing two new products, one under the Jeep brand while the other under its own badging, at its facility in Melfi, Italy. Based on an extended version of the Fiat 500X platform, they will be available in both front-wheel and all-wheel-drive versions.

Not many details are known about the car, but looking at it, we can see it will feature a boxy shape, a protruding front bumper, a seven slot grille and circular fog lights. The prototype also appears to have square head and taillights. The engine line-up will most likely include a 0.9-litre TwinAir Turbo petrol, a 1.6-litre MultiJet II turbodiesel and a 1.4-litre MultiAir Turbo. All of them have been borrowed from the Fiat 500L and pump out 105bhp and 145Nm of torque, 105bhp -320Nm of torque and 160bhp-250Nm of torque respectively. Rumour mills have predicted that Jeep will reintroduce the ‘Jeepster’ moniker for this crossover. This crossover will also be sold under Fiat's brand in markets where Jeep hasn't made its debut.

It is rumoured that the Jeep will be manufactured at the Ranjangaon plant in Maharashtra. Fiat has been looking at leveraging India as an export hub for right-hand-drive models. There exists an excess capacity the Indian manufacturing units and Fiat is planning to export vehicles from here to markets in the UK, Japan, Australia and South Africa.