Focus: Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X price positioning

Now that the Jeep Renegade and the Fiat 500X have been finally revealed, it is time for a deep analysis about their price positioning in order to understand how competitive they are compared to their rivals. B-SUV segment is definitely the rock star of European car market and in 2015 it will continue to grow thanks to the 2 new FCA products. They will finally take Italian market into the new trend (the B-SUV segment is expected to post big gains over there), exactly as the Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008 did in France. The German/UK market is some how covered by the Opel/Vauxhall Mokka, Mini Countryman and Skoda Yeti. Based on data gathered from a unique Italian car reviews site, Omniauto.it, I took the official prices of 10 different B-SUV (including the 500X and Renegade) available in the Italian market. Even if the prices changes in all European markets, the positioning is more or less the same all over. How expensive is the Fiat 500X and the Jeep Renegade? will they become a real alternative for those looking for a small SUV? what’s the strategy behind their pricing?

European B-SUV is composed by the Opel Mokka, Chevrolet Trax, Ford Ecosport, Skoda Yeti, Peugeot 2008, Renault Captur, Dacia Duster, Mini Countryman, Nissan Juke, and lately by the Jeep Renegade, Fiat 500X, Citroen C4 Cactus. Next year the new Suzuki Vitara, Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V and Ssangyong Tivoli will join them. VW brand is surprisingly out of this segment as long as the Taigun isn’t launched. The Chevrolet Trax and Citroen C4 Cactus were excluded for the analysis as the first one will be soon discontinued, and the Citroen is one step behind in terms of specifications. The benchmark includes the two opposite sides of the segment: the cheapest (Dacia Duster) and the most expensive one (Mini Countryman). The Mini is the shortest one, while the Opel Mokka is the largest. The Countryman has the largest engines/transmission range, and the Ford Ecosport the smallest one. The Ford Ecosport, Nissan Juke, Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur don’t feature 4WD transmission, while the Skoda Yeti is only offered with that kind of transmission. Based on its official price list, the Fiat 500X will start featuring 4 different types of engines (the 170cv will arrive later).

In the petrol world the Fiat 500X is very well positioned. The entry-level version, with 110cv, is one step behind in terms of horse-power and price compared to the mainstream competitors: Opel Mokka, Ford Ecosport, Peugeot 2008 and Renault Captur. However the Nissan Juke with 117cv is a bit cheaper. The most expensive 110cv 500X (with the best trim package) is at the same price of the entry levels of its competitors. Considering the least powerful competitors, Peugeot 2008 (82cv), Renault Captur (90cv) and Nissan Juke (95cv), the 110cv 500X is just a bit more expensive. In other words, the entry-level of the Fiat 500X is in the middle of the field between the less-than-100cv alternatives and the biggest part of the offer. The Nissan Juke is the only competitor to beat it in terms of price/cv excluding the low-cost Dacia Duster, which plays using other attributes. The Mini Countryman is for sure the most expensive alternative, and therefore it shouldn’t be considered as a real threat. In the upper part of the petrol B-SUV segment the 500X doesn’t play alone. The Renegade joins it with the same 140cv engine but this time the competition is a bit easier as there’s only one direct competitor: the Opel Mokka with 140cv and with a starting price just between the 500X and the Renegade. In cases like this, at the end what really counts is the service and the final discount the dealer can offer. Once again, both FCA products are more competitive than the Mini (in terms of power and price). Both models could have problems to their lack of 4×4 transmissions taken into account that there is a bit more expensive version of the Mokka 4×4 and the Mini Countryman 4×4 is just some horsepower behind. The unpopular Skoda Yeti is also a rival to fear as it is offered with 20cv more, 4×4 transmission and few euros more expensive. Regarding the 4×4 transmission the discussion would be how sensitive is the final client when deciding of paying a bit more to have it (even if in the majority of the cases he won’t use it). Note: there’s a more powerful version of the Countryman, the 218cv JCW priced at €36.700 which wasn’t included in the chart.

Things may not be that easy when considering the diesel options. There is a short cv gap between the 120cv Fiat 500X/Jeep Renegade and the 110cv Nissan Juke, while the Nissan results to be much cheaper. The diesel entry-level versions of the Fiat and the Jeep are competitive when compared to the entry-level version of the Mini Countryman (with only 90cv), but it isn’t the case when comparing them with the Opel Mokka, which at the same price level offers 135 cv, while the 4×4 version is just few euros more expensive than the Renegade FWD. Certainly the Mokka has some advantage. In the opposite side there are the Mini and the Skoda (4×4), a bit more expensive but with less powerful engines. However the FCA couple is also offered with the 140cv engines more or less at the same price of the Skoda Yeti and the Mini Countryman, all of them with 4×4 transmission. At the top there are only the Renegade Trailhawk 4×4 and 9-speed transmission and the Skoda Yeti DSG 170cv 4×4. This all means that the Fiat 500X and Jeep Renegade have a more direct positioning against the Countryman/Yeti than in the petrol sub-segment, and they have to compete with other attributes. The Mokka is another key player. Considering that the diesel engines are the largest part of the market, FCA won’t have an easy task in this segment and other aspects such as the dealer and after sales service, the final discounts will be crucial. Of course both models have their distinctive labels: the 500X plays with the design/personality feature while the Renegade plays as the only real SUV in the segment. Note: there’s a less powerful version of the Peugeot 2008, the 68cv HDi, which wasn’t included in the chart.

Based on Omniauto’s price list the Dacia Duster is for sure the cheapest B-SUV available in the market. Even the 125cv version is cheaper than the closest competitor, the Peugeot 2008 with only 82cv. The entry-level version of the 500X would be the 12th cheapest B-SUV, while the Renegade 1.4 MultiAir occupies the place #27. In the opposite side the Renegade Trailhawk is the third most expensive B-SUV right after the Mini Countryman JCW and the Skoda Yeti DSG 170cv. Notice that the sporty version of the Juke, the Nismo with 200cv is priced below the Fiat 500X 2.0 with 140cv and 4×4. The ranking changes if the number of cvs is included: Note: rankings exclude different trims of the same engine.

* The prices and specs were taken from www.omniauto.it site. Fiat 500X data was taken from the official price list. They correspond to November 2014 offer for Italian market.