Our Daydreaming Designer Explores Fun Ways To Use Two Years Worth Of Unsold Jeep Renegades

I’ve never really been a glass-half-full kind of person, but I respect people who can look at seemingly dire situations and turn them into opportunities. Individuals with such an attitude might be good to have at Stellantis right now to deal with a situation that came to light sometime last week — namely the 753-day Renegade supply on dealer lots.

Very few eight year old car designs hold up well against the competition in today’s world of rather rapid new product development. The cute-looking Italian-built Fiat 500L-related Jeep Renegade was not exactly a class leader in terms of performance or dependability when it was introduced in 2015, and considering that it’s received nothing more than a facelift a little while back (styling-wise, that is. There have been changes to the powertrain options), you might guess that new ones are not exactly hot sellers today. Your guess would be correct, and the situation is apparently not great.

Based on the current take rate, it appears that there is a 753 supply of Renegades in dealer inventories right now. That’s right — even if they bring not one more unit over the Atlantic it could take around two years to sell off all of these little Jeeps. How will that happen? Offload them to fleets? Offer super deep discounts? Maybe, but I wanted to think of some more creative ways to make this not-without-its-merits little SUV move from dealer lots.

Here’s a few fun ways to possibly enjoy the near-lifetime supply of these adorable little Renegades in a semi-stock state:

Option 1: Renegade Jolly

Vacation resorts and retirement centers often spend big bucks for little electric golf cart things to transport people, yet these things have some severe limitations in terms of driveability. Modifying a Renegade to take on some of these tasks might not just be a good idea, but also an idea with a strong history.

Being Fiat 500L based, the Renegade has at least a spiritual ancestor in the Fiat 500 Jolly. This was a factory-built version of the famous little runabout with the doors removed and roof sawed off, replaced by a fabric “awning” and little metal tubing running the perimeter of the open sides. These odd little machines were useful additions to any vacation spot’s motor pool, and surviving examples sell for absurd amounts today (the one pictured above is listed at $49,900).

“Our” Renegade “Jolly” would follow the same design pattern, with black plastic trim to cover up the cutouts and steel reinforcements welded beneath. There’s also black tubing running in the car to replace no-longer-there anchor points for seatbelts to attach to. Weatherproof seat covers and floor coverings finish the conversion.

The fact that the Renegade has this recessed area on the roof (which is painted black on some models) means that it’s visually a natural thing to be removed, and it looks more unified that the original Jolly. It’s also more cohesive than another similar Stellantis (Chrysler) product conversion done about 45 years ago that you all might know (and whatever you say about the Renegade, it’s a W123 Benz compared to a Volare). Smiles, everyone, smiles!:

There’s gotta be plenty of coastal hotels, beach umbrella and raft rental firms, and island resorts that could use these things, right? [Editor’s Note: there’s be some serious structural rigidity issues, but maybe that could be mended with a simple roll cage. -DT]. 

Option 2: Purpose-Built Uber

I’m well aware of the fact that Uber supposedly has “standards” for the age and condition of the rolling stock you can use as a driver for the rideshare app. Still, I’ve ridden in far too many Ubers where essentially anything would be better than the rather pathetic hoopties these poor drivers were operating. Well, a new Renegade unquestionably qualifies as “anything,” and it’s actually a pretty good size and layout to be offered at reasonable (subsidized?) lease or finance rates for an urban rideshare car. Also, why not use it as a testbed for some purpose-built modifications to make it sort of a new-day Checker?

A bold illuminated Uber logo in the grille is the most prominent change, but on top we would add the Uber “Heet Case” for food or for extra luggage. This roof carrier has doors on both sides with LCD advertising screens (on back too) for additional income generation. The carrier/case has heating elements so that the driver could do Uber Eats runs and present customers with warm food (heating elements controlled by a phone app).

There are small vents front and rear on the case (opened and closed by the phone app as well). That way, if the driver does an Uber Eats run from House of India and then has to pick up people at the airport with lots of luggage, the vents can be opened up between assignments so the travelers won’t end up with melted deodorant in hot suitcases that smell like tandoori chicken and curry rice (mmm…tandoori chicken). There’s also green LEDs on the upper front surface so you can tell what ride is yours, though I would think it’s much easier to find your Uber regardless when it’s a white SUV with a giant white box on top and not a beat to shit Hyundai Elantra with a fart cannon exhaust and Amazon adhesive roof wind splitter fins on it.

Rideshare drivers need new cars at some point; why not a Renegade?

Option 3: Fake Side-By-Side

There might some critics out there that claim the Renegade “isn’t competitive” in its “market segment.” If that’s the case, you have two options: try to improve it or take it out of the market segment altogether. I mean, if the market thinks it’s a sub-par small SUV, but it’s reasonable enough off road; could it be turned into a sort of civilized “side by side” — the term for those expensive open-bodied large ATV type vehicles?

First, we’d rip off all of the doors but offer special half doors (like on the example below) or soft covers for the openings; we could even cut some openings in the roof that canvas might cover so the option of an open-air experience could be there. A rear mounted spare tire, winch and brush bar, combined with tweaked suspension would result in…OK, maybe not a great side-by-side but one with air conditioning and other features likely not found on most market competitors. Let’s face it- they made dune buggies and Baja bugs out of Volkswagen Beetles in period, and the Renegade has to be twice and capable as one of those, right? Maybe?

Any other ideas? Look, by the time you read this there might still be enough Renegades to last until past the next presidential election, so we have to come up with something. What do you have in mind?

[Editor’s Note: I’d like to point out that, as silly as Bishop’s concepts may be, this idea of turning unsold inventory into something totally different isn’t unheard of. When Malcolm Bricklin struggled to sell the little Subaru 360s he’d imported from Japan, he tried selling his cars as part of a racing franchise. Here, allow The Lane car museum tell you about it:

Hardware store tycoon and automotive entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin became the first to import Subarus to the US when he founded Subaru America in 1968. Although the brand was popular in Japan, Bricklin was not able to sell many after a 1970 Consumer Reports article rated the vehicle “Not Acceptable”. Bricklin, therefore, created a national racetrack franchise he called FasTrack to sell the approximately 10,000 cars in stock.

The idea, which used the vehicles like go-karts, cost $25,000 and included 10 modified Subaru 360’s- each with a new custom body, 20 helmets and uniforms, lighting, and plans for a racetrack. The new bodies, plastic and harder to damage, were designed by Bruce Meyers (who later designed and built the Meyers Manx Dune Buggy). Bricklin also proposed a spin-off idea called FasTrack Leisure Land, a chain of resort hotels with go-kart racing.  In 1971, Bricklin decided to leave Subaru of America and but remained the owner of FasTrack.

Bricklin managed to sell a few FasTrack franchises; however, in 1974 he was sued for breach of contract and ordered to pay $2.39 million to his business partner after borrowing large sums of money against FasTrack properties and investing it in other projects.

I personally like the side-by-side option, though I have concerns about the Renegades off-road durability and capability, given its small-car roots and lack of low range. -DT]

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