JEEP might be famous the world over for building cars that will climb mountains, but the brand itself is digging itself out of a pit that could have seen it sink into obscurity.

In Europe at least, where a Jeep spokesman admitted, as the latest model - the Renegade - was launched, "back in 2012 we were teetering on the edge."

Dealers were losing an average of more than £130,000 a year and lots of them jumped ship, heading for brands that might make them a decent living. Things, in short, could not have looked bleaker.

Well, what a difference three years can make. The car you are reading about today is not only the first Jeep to be built outside the United States (in Italy, actually) it is also confidently expected to quickly become by far the best selling Jeep in the UK, making dealers very happy indeed.

Built in the same Italian plant as the Fiat 500X and sharing important bits like engines and gearboxes, the Renegade is aimed squarely at the likes of the Nissan Juke and Mini Countryman; both cars that attract a fanatical following of owners happy to pay a solid price for a car that makes them feel good about themselves.

They inhabit a part of the car market (for smaller SUVs) that is expanding faster than a politician's election promises, as European buyers fall for the charms of cars that look a lot like unaffordable and wilderness conquering 4x4s but really cost little more to run than a family hatchback.

The Jeep Renegade will do a fair impression of an Everest hero, even if its target audience - politely called "the young at heart" - never venture further off road than the field at the local car boot sale. Why, a fifth of buyers are expected to lease a car with their mobility allowance and most Renegades won't even be all-wheel drive.

What they all have, Jeep must hope, is a name that carries decades of credibility among people hankering after daily transport that rises above the merely practical.

With prices starting at £16,995 for a decently equipped 1.6 litre petrol model with air con, DAB radio, Bluetooth and alloy wheels, the Renegade looks convincing even before you turn the key in the ignition.

There are diesels to choose from too (Jeep thinks there might be an even-ish split on types of fuel) and four trim levels, all the way to the £27,995 Limited with 2.0 litre diesel engine, all-wheel drive and nine-speed automatic gearbox.

Most will hardly venture off road, but bold owners who opt for the 4x4 models will discover a car capable of taking a quite demanding series of hills and hollows, and a seashore being washed by an incoming tide, if they choose the route of the press drive for the newcomer, on the east coast of Scotland around North Berwick.

They might be more surprised (after all, Jeep is never backward in coming forward about the brand's off-road prowess) is the way the Renegade tackles a British side road; the heavier diesel in particular impressing with its gentle, quiet progress.

The 2.0 litre on test managed 39mpg (the notably slower but cheaper 1.4 litre petrol did 33mpg) and never felt lacking for power. It also presented an interior different enough to be interesting and just the right side of kitsch, with its little tributes to Jeep's heritage dotted about - 31 of them all told, from a red line on the rev counter marked like a smear of mud, to a tiny WWII Jeep outline on the windscreen surround.