Jeep Sales rise by over 60% in Europe.

Jeep’s sales have risen to over 60% in Europe compared to 2010 – impressive stuff! While the car industry has been in decline in general terms in many ways during the current recession, Jeep has been steadily improving sales and bucking the trend.

This may come as a surprise but Jeep’s main sales increases were in Germany with a massive 124% rise, followed closely by Italy with 117.6%. Although we didn’t have the exact sales figures to hand in terms of units sold, we can only assume this is good news and a start of better things to come for the mighty and historic Jeep brand.

Jeep have been in the United Kingdom for a very long time and were seen as alternatives to Land Rover. The early 90′s Jeep Cherokee for example had boxy styling, was well equipped (for a 4×4 at the time) but the plastics inside just didn’t measure up inside for European tastes. Off road abilities were always good, although not massively better than Land Rover. Because of its American macho, go-anywhere image, the Jeep (the name comes from GP, which is short for General Purpose) gained many fans nevertheless.

In 2007 Jeep launched an updated Cherokee, using the boxy styling it had been known for in the past, but they added a more aggressive style which made it look fresher than the previous versions – and it worked. This was the Jeep that made great sense to European buyers who didn’t want a Land Rover or a Mitsubishi Shogun for that matter.

The 2007 Jeep Cherokee was cheaper than its British and Japanese counterparts when launched and began to appeal to anyone wanting a good looking family 4×4 that could also go off road, or up kerbs outside children’s schools.

The only engine available for the Jeep Cherokee is a 2.8 diesel with 161bhp, 266lb of torque, 0-60mph in 12.8 seconds and a top speed of 108 mph. Naturally, the Cherokee is quite heavy weighing 2.1 tonnes but will manage to get 30mpg (combined) in the economy stakes.

There is also the Grand Cherokee which is bigger, and comes with a choice of petrol and diesel engines,
All Jeeps come with a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty and they’re so confident of the Jeep engines that you get a 5 year/100,000 mile warranty for those.

On the used second hand car market the Jeep makes a lot of sense. It’s good off road, looks more expensive than it costs, has good space inside, and parts are reasonable for a 4×4. Here is a couple of Warrantywise examples of what we’ve paid out for on the Jeep Cherokee in the last few months, as one of the UK’s leading extended vehicle warranty firms, fronted by Quentin Willson:

Gearbox (manual) £640.14

Fuel System £1073.82

Alternator £254.46

Window Regulator £414.77

So if you want a piece of 4×4 history, why not consider a jeep? But of course, any used vehicle really needs an extended mechanical and electrical warranty to protect it – and ideally one which doesn’t penalise you for betterment, which covers failure due to premature wear and tear, consequential damage, sat nav and hire car expenses. Warrantywise’s best car warranty packages cover all these and more!