Jeep increases sales of electric Avenger, as EV penetration stalls for small SUVs

Jeep has sharply increased sales of full-electric versions of the Avenger small SUV in recent months, even as the share of EVs in the segment -- Europe’s largest -- has stalled at less than 6 percent.

In August, 58 percent of the Avengers registered had a full-electric drivetrain, or 2,152 units, according to figures from Dataforce. In June, the figure was 35 percent and in July 37 percent. In the first five months of the year, there were 962 electric Avengers sold in total.

Jeep said Tuesday that 42 percent of the 40,000 orders for the Avenger since it was launched at the 2022 Paris auto show last October are full electric. Of the 18,487 Avengers registered in Europe from January through August, 31 percent are full electric.

For the segment as a whole, full-electric versions accounted for just 5.7 percent of sales in that period, marginally ahead of the same period in 2022, when the EV share was 5.6 percent, figures from Dataforce show. The segment, which is Europe’s largest, grew by 15 percent overall to 1.36 million sales, Dataforce said.

“Small electric SUV sales are very sensitive to incentives,” Jeep Enlarged Europe head Eric Laforge told Automotive News Europe.

Germany, which has the largest number of EV sales in Europe, and some Nordic countries have cut back on benefits for electric models this year, with Germany’s main EV incentive falling to 4,500 euros from 6,000 euros.

The stall in electrification in the small SUV segment is in contrast with the overall European market.

From January to August, electric vehicles accounted for 15 percent of European demand, up from 10 percent in the same period the year before, Dataforce figures show. In August, for the first time, the share of electric vehicles surpassed 20 percent, accounting for 21 of the market, figures from automakers association ACEA show. 

That growth is expected to slow by the end of the year, especially as a key German EV incentive aimed at business and fleet buyers expired on Sept. 1, analysts and experts recently told Automotive News Europe.

Although EV sales in the segment are low overall, figures indicate that when given a choice on models like the Avenger, a significant number will opt for a full-electric version over combustion engines. 

The Hyundai Kona leads sales of electric small SUVs with 23,802 units through August. The electric version accounts for almost 40 percent of the Kona sales in Europe -- with the electric Kona accounting for for about a third of all sales of electric small SUVs. 

Hyundai plans to boost production of the electric variant of the second-generation Kona to reach 60 percent of its sales and to defend its lead in EV sales in the segment.
 
Two other Stellantis models, the Opel Mokka-e and the Peugeot e-2008, ranked second and third in electric sales in the segment. The Mokka-e had 18,766 sales, accounting for 27 percent of all sales, while the e-2008 had 16,683 sales, or 17 percent of all sales, according to Dataforce.

The electric version of SAIC’s MG ZS ranked fourth, with 11,702 units (24 percent of model mix) ahead of the Avenger, with 5,740 units. These five models were the only ones recording significant sales from January to August. The Honda e:Ny1 ranked sixth, but with just 279 units registered over eight months.

Jeep had initially made the Avenger an electric-only model for all European markets except Italy, Spain and Poland, where a gasoline variant had been planned since launch. After markets such as France and Germany began parallel imports of gasoline Avengers, Jeep made a top-spec gasoline variant available in most markets.

In Italy the gasoline version of the Avenger starts at 26,300 euros, while the electric version starts at 37,900 euros.

The Avenger is Jeep’s second entrant in the small SUV segment after the larger Renegade, and the brand’s sales in the segment are up by 34 percent this year, Jeep said Tuesday.

Renegade sales were at about 32,000 units in the eight months of this year compared to the same period a year ago, something that surprised even Laforge.

“We were expecting some cannibalization, but being a bit bigger and having four-wheel drive, the Renegade was unaffected, as it attracts customers that are different from the ones of the Avengers,” he said.