Super-Affordable Jeep EV to Hit the Market “Very Soon”
As Jeep prepares to officially introduce the Wagoneer S tonight in New York City, many people are already scared by the high price this first electric Jeep SUV in North America is going to sell for. But the good news is that another super-affordable EV is coming in the near future.
In an interview with CNBC this week, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares said there will be “a $25,000 Jeep very soon” in the U.S.
- Also: Jeep’s Upcoming Electric SUVs May Offer Gas-Powered Variant
- Also: Electric Jeep Wagoneer S to Go on Sale in Quebec, B.C. This Fall
It won’t be the Recon, a Wrangler-like model that will follow the Wagoneer S later this year, or the Avenger, which will likely remain a European-only product because it’s too small for the price that Jeep is asking (€38,000).
Tavares referenced the all-new Citroën e-C3. “We are using the same expertise because we are a global company and this is totally fluid across the engineering world of Stellantis," he said, hinting at significant cost reductions through extensive component sharing.
The problem is that a rebadged e-C3 would hardly draw interest among North American drivers, what with a meager 111 horsepower (allowing 0-100 km/h sprints in 11 seconds) and no more than 320 km of range based on the WLTP test cycle.
A more likely scenario involves the next-generation Jeep Compass, which will be built on the STLA Medium platform in Brampton, Ontario, where Stellantis is spending $1.32 billion. The plant is being retooled to produce both ICE-powered and battery-electric vehicles.
As we wrote in November of last year, work is scheduled to be completed in late 2025, according to Unifor, and it’s expected that the future Compass will be electrified. We should see it on the road sometime in 2026.
Whatever cheap EV Jeep has planned for us, it will compete directly with the all-new Chevrolet Equinox EV, among others. UPDATE (06/13/2014): The company has revealed the vehicle will be a next-generation Renegade.
In related news, Jeep confirmed earlier this spring that its plug-in hybrid lineup will expand in 2025 with the addition of the Gladiator 4xe.
