Jeep Renegade sales being held due to powertrain issue [UPDATE]

UPDATE: An unnamed FCA US source has clarified to Automotive News that while there is a software issue, it does not concern the transmission.

The Jeep Renegade appears to be facing early software problems that are similar to the ones at the introduction of the Cherokee a few years ago. The issue is keeping the brand's latest compact crossover away from dealers until the situation can be resolved.

The fault reportedly deals with the software controlling the Renegade's nine-speed automatic transmission. FCA CEO Sergio Marchionne briefly talked about what was happening in an interview with Automotive News. "I'm having a very bad engineering day," he said. "It's a combination of attributes of that vehicle that is making my life horrible." The company boss predicted at the longest it could take until mid-June to fix things. Through April, Jeep has sold 5,157 Renegades, including 4,214 of them in that month alone.

Autoblog reached out to an FCA US spokesperson to learn more about the software problem, but the company had no comment.

Getting the software right to control the nine-speed automatic plagued development of the Cherokee. The issues delayed the model's launch in 2013, and the company was still releasing improvements for some vehicles this year.