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2015 Jeep Renegade brings the cute

The jig is up, the noose is out, we finally found it: the Renegade that Jeep has made, retrieved for a bounty.
Okay, enough of that. Meet the Renegade - Jeep's cute little compact crossover that makes its official debut here at the Geneva Motor Show. We recently brought you a massive Deep Dive into what makes the Renegade tick, and we're now getting our first live look at the tiny Jeep, live from its coming out party in Switzerland.
With the exception of associate editor Jonathon Ramsey, who doesn't know what he's talking about, we at Autoblog are kind of smitten with the little Jeep - it's a really unique package, featuring details that really make it kind of special (notice that jerry can pattern in the taillights, for example). Jeep will offer the Renegade with either a 1.4-liter turbo-four (from the Fiat 500L) or a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated four (from the Dodge Dart), with either a six-speed manual transmission or a nine-speed automatic. There will even be a Trailhawk version with four-wheel drive - properly trail-rated, to boot. The Renegade also features a nifty new My Sky removable roof panel system, giving this little cutie sort of a baby Wrangler feel.

Jeep lays out 5-year plan, including rebirth of Grand Wagoneer and new C-segment offering

Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Machionne presented a five-year plan for the company brands this morning, with Jeep first up on a long day of presentation. Jeep's head honcho Michael Manley wasted no time in laying out what the foreseeable future will look like for what he calls the "lead global brand" of the company.
Big goals for the next half-decade will include expanding the lineup from five nameplates built in one country, to six nameplates build in six countries. That expansion of models will include both a three-row competitor, and, of course, a small vehicle to slot below Cherokee. The company is also seeking to add a whopping 1,300 dealers over the next few years, to sell all this new metal, and has an aggressive goal of doubling Jeep sales by the time 2018 rolls around.
As expected, that first salvo from the off-road brand will be the debut of the much ballyhooed Renegade small crossover in the third quarter of this year. Jeep has already designated that Renegade will get refreshed for the 2017 model year, as well.

Fiat Chrysler target 850k sales in China by 2018

Behind the vanguard of numerous Jeep models, two Chryslers, a smattering of Fiats and Alfa Romeos and local production through a joint venture with Guangzhou Automotive Group (GAG), Fiat Chrysler wants to increase sales in China more than six-fold by 2018. The group sold 130,000 cars in China in 2013, the aim for 2018 being 850,000 cars.
Ultimately it's expected that the Jeep Grand Cherokee, Cherokee, Wrangler, Renegade, the coming Grand Wagoneer and a sub-Renegade-sized crossover will either be built in or exported to the People's Republic. The Chrysler Town & Country and 300 will join the export list in 2016 and 2018 respectively, according to a report in Automotive News.
With a number of those vehicles not in production or perhaps even envisaged yet, and others not due on the local market until 2018, it will be interesting to see how Fiat Chrysler plans to achieve the target in the specified timeframe. The joint venture with GAG builds two products now, the Dodge Dart-based Fiat Viaggio launched two years ago - supposedly designed just for China - and the just-launched Fiat Ottimo, a hatchback version of the Viaggio. Fiat projected 300,000 Viagio sales in its first two years, that number has been adjusted downward to 94,000 and there doesn't appear to be an analyst alive that sees a good future for Fiat in China's overrun mainstream market. Still, last year's 130,000 group sales in China is a huge jump from 2012 sales of 66,000 units, but less than half the 300,000 units it projected.