What Is It?
Jeep Compass Concept
What's Special About It?
The Jeep stand at the Frankfurt show gave birth to twin concepts: The Jeep Compass and the Jeep Patriot.
The Compass, according to Chrysler Design VP Trevor Creed, is a step away from the typical Jeep. "With the Compass," he told Inside Line, "we challenged our designers to come up with a more stylish vehicle — something that still carried traditional Jeep styling cues, but more youthful." The compact five-door answer his team came up with, Creed says, owes as much to European rally cars as it does to Jeep's off-road heritage, perhaps more.
The Compass concept's rear roof wing and 19-inch wheels touch on rally cues, but the steeply raked windshield and smoother lines point to a Jeep that doesn't have a lot of off-road adventures on its mind.
Is there a Jeep Compass on its way to a dealer near you? Trevor Creed is as elusive as a Cheshire cat on the subject. However, other sources within Chrysler have reconfirmed that the company plans to go into production with a Jeep Compass late next year. The vehicle will end up being a size smaller than Jeep's Liberty model, and priced, we'd guess, between $12,000 and $14,000.
If the current expectations hold, the production Compass will be built on the forthcoming Dodge Caliber platform, which means front-drive and all-wheel-drive variations should be available. Another well-founded guess would put Chrysler's 2.4-liter four-cylinder in the engine bay.
What's Edmunds' Take?
The question Jeep asked was, "Why can't we add style to our substance?" The answer was the Compass. The exterior looks OK, but we'll wait to draw a final conclusion, at least until we see the final interior execution. — Richard Homan
Jeep Compass Concept
What's Special About It?
The Jeep stand at the Frankfurt show gave birth to twin concepts: The Jeep Compass and the Jeep Patriot.
The Compass, according to Chrysler Design VP Trevor Creed, is a step away from the typical Jeep. "With the Compass," he told Inside Line, "we challenged our designers to come up with a more stylish vehicle — something that still carried traditional Jeep styling cues, but more youthful." The compact five-door answer his team came up with, Creed says, owes as much to European rally cars as it does to Jeep's off-road heritage, perhaps more.
The Compass concept's rear roof wing and 19-inch wheels touch on rally cues, but the steeply raked windshield and smoother lines point to a Jeep that doesn't have a lot of off-road adventures on its mind.
Is there a Jeep Compass on its way to a dealer near you? Trevor Creed is as elusive as a Cheshire cat on the subject. However, other sources within Chrysler have reconfirmed that the company plans to go into production with a Jeep Compass late next year. The vehicle will end up being a size smaller than Jeep's Liberty model, and priced, we'd guess, between $12,000 and $14,000.
If the current expectations hold, the production Compass will be built on the forthcoming Dodge Caliber platform, which means front-drive and all-wheel-drive variations should be available. Another well-founded guess would put Chrysler's 2.4-liter four-cylinder in the engine bay.
What's Edmunds' Take?
The question Jeep asked was, "Why can't we add style to our substance?" The answer was the Compass. The exterior looks OK, but we'll wait to draw a final conclusion, at least until we see the final interior execution. — Richard Homan
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