Fiat Chrysler Automobile (FCA) India launched its first locally manufactured Jeep Compass SUV in the domestic market today, at a price starting Rs 14.95 lakh (ex—showroom Delhi).

The deliveries of the new vehicle will commence from August 6.

“Due to the overwhelming public response to the Jeep Compass, coupled with a significant number of pre-bookings and enquiries, we decided to advance the price announcement so that potential customers can finalise their purchase plans,” Kevin Flynn, the president and managing director of FCA India, said at the launch.

“The FCA will start retails on August 6. Analysing our pre-bookings data, it made sense for us to prioritise the deliveries of diesel manual transmission variants. We will deliver the petrol automatic transmission variants closer to Diwali,” he said. He also added that the company is set to expand its dealer network to 60 by the end of this calendar year.

In 2014, Fiat Chrysler had announced plans to launch 12 models in India in five years and start producing models of the Jeep brand in the country by 2015. However, it had later revised the plan.

FCA had started production of the Jeep Compass from its Ranjangaon facility near Pune. This plant—a 50:50 joint venture between FCA and Tata Motors Ltd—has the capacity to produce 160,000 units and 350,000 engines. It is the only one among the four global manufacturing units of Fiat that rolls out right hand drive models.

FCA India has invested $280 million in the plant to support local production of Jeep.

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