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| Africa runs in his veins: Boss at Jeep in South Africa, Trent Barcoft |
TRENT Barcroft, CEO and MD of Chrysler and Jeep in South Africa, is
a happy man.
His division finally took delivery of Jeep’s smallest
vehicle yet, the Renegade.
While built in Italy on a platform shared with the Fiat 500,
Barcroft stressed the little crossover ute was designed by Jeep engineers specifically to extend the
brand’s domination to new buyers in urban areas.
So it is aimed at city slickers, but with just over 17 cm of road clearance, even the 4x2 version of this upright little urban crawler is
quite comfortable on rough dirt roads, thank you very much, as Jeep proved during the launch over some of the Gauteng province's rougher dirt roads.
quite comfortable on rough dirt roads, thank you very much, as Jeep proved during the launch over some of the Gauteng province's rougher dirt roads.
The first Renegade model in SA will be powered by the 103 kW version of
Fiat’s 1,4-litre MultiAir II Turbo petrol engine, which is in the same class as
Volkswagen’s 1,4 with 230 Nm from at 1 750 rpm, mated to a six-speed manual
gearbox.
An all-wheel drive and a nine-speed autobox will arrive in
September and makes about as much with stop/start featuring a six-speed manual
transmission and 4x2 configuration.
Jeep’s boss in South Africa likened the brand to Africa, a
continent which he says can grab your soul.
He reminded that Jeep had "basically invented the 4x4" over 74 years ago, adding ALL the vehicles in the brand -- the 4x2 Renegade included -- give their drivers the freedom to get
adventurous in their spare time.
While exploring rough roads in their spare time, Renegade drivers
won’t feel the knocks so much, as the little Jeep is the first model behind the
seven-grill bar to use Koni’s frequency selective damping that filters out
vibrations from uneven road surfaces. Six airbags, ESC with Electronic Rollover
Mitigation are standard.
A five-inch touchscreen links with Bluetooth to smartphones, and
have voice-command control of the AM/FM radio. An auxiliary jack and USB port
also enable recharging and seamless operation of portable devices.
Pricing for the Jeep Renegade 1.4L Limited starts at R375 990 and
includes a standard three-year/100 000 km warranty and class leading
six-year/100 000 km maintenance plan.
The first 500 Renegades now available at dealers in SA come with
optional sat nav and bigger wheels with chrome finish as standard. Jeep in
Pietermaritzburg say they have already had calls inquiring after the Renegade,
and a model is ready for test drives from today.
First published in Witness Wheels on 21 May.
