Photo: Stefan Baldauf / SB-Medien
You may remember the Jeep Commander in the guise of a mid-size utility vehicle with three-row seating. Jeep revived this name in 2018 for the Chinese market Grand Commander and Commander PHEV, but we’re not done yet. Another Commander launched in Brazil in 2021 with the same platform as the Compass, a three-row SUV that won’t be sold in the U.S.
Previously believed to be a South America-only affair, the latest Commander has been recently spied in Sweden with minor styling differences and the steering wheel on the wrong side. Approximately two-thirds of the global population drive on the right side of the street while 75 countries and territories use LHT. The most populous country with LHT is India, followed by Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Japan, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
India would be my bet for the prototypes in the photo gallery, more so if you remember that Fiat Chrysler’s local division produces the Compass on which the Commander is based at Ranjangaon, in the Pune district of the western state of Maharashtra. Our spy photographers tell us that Jeep has at least four prototypes testing in Scandinavia, as in two LHD and two RHD.
It remains to be seen if those LHD test mules are there for benchmarking against the RHD prototypes or if the American marque is developing a global variant as well. In any case, don’t hold your breath for anything more than a 1.3-liter turbo four-cylinder mill and a 2.0-liter turbo diesel option.
For the Brazilian market, the so-called T270 flex-fuel engine develops 180 metric ponies on gasoline or 185 on ethanol. The 270 stands for Newton meters of torque, which is 199 pound-feet for our North American readers. As for the TD380, the compression-ignition engine develops 170 metric horsepower and 380 Nm (280 pound-feet) of torque. The diesel features a nine-speed ZF auto while the gas-fed lump rocks a six-speed Aisin auto.
Based on the FCA Small Wide LWB 4x4 architecture derived from the Small Common Components and Systems platform, the Commander was available to pre-order from 199,990 reais ($38,070) back in August 2021.
India would be my bet for the prototypes in the photo gallery, more so if you remember that Fiat Chrysler’s local division produces the Compass on which the Commander is based at Ranjangaon, in the Pune district of the western state of Maharashtra. Our spy photographers tell us that Jeep has at least four prototypes testing in Scandinavia, as in two LHD and two RHD.
It remains to be seen if those LHD test mules are there for benchmarking against the RHD prototypes or if the American marque is developing a global variant as well. In any case, don’t hold your breath for anything more than a 1.3-liter turbo four-cylinder mill and a 2.0-liter turbo diesel option.
For the Brazilian market, the so-called T270 flex-fuel engine develops 180 metric ponies on gasoline or 185 on ethanol. The 270 stands for Newton meters of torque, which is 199 pound-feet for our North American readers. As for the TD380, the compression-ignition engine develops 170 metric horsepower and 380 Nm (280 pound-feet) of torque. The diesel features a nine-speed ZF auto while the gas-fed lump rocks a six-speed Aisin auto.
Based on the FCA Small Wide LWB 4x4 architecture derived from the Small Common Components and Systems platform, the Commander was available to pre-order from 199,990 reais ($38,070) back in August 2021.
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