Jeep Avenger will be brand's first full-electric model

TURIN -- Stellantis will unveil the Jeep Avenger, a small SUV that will be the brand’s first full-electric model, at the Paris auto show on Oct. 17.

The Avenger, which will also have combustion-engine variants, will be Jeep’s second entrant in the segment, joining the slightly larger Renegade.

The Avenger will be aimed at younger customers, especially young families, while the Renegade, with its larger cargo space and more rear-seat room, targets families with older children, Antonella Bruno, the head of the Jeep brand for Stellantis’ Europe region, said at a media event on Wednesday.

The Avenger will be the first of four full-electric models that Jeep will launch in Europe by 2025. The others are a boxy, Land Rover Defender-sized large SUV called the Recon; the large Wagoneer S; and a fourth, as-yet-unnamed model. 

The Avenger will compete in the small SUV/crossover segment, Europe’s largest with 1,132,489 sales in the first seven months of 2022. The now 8-year-old Renegade saw its sales decrease by 38 percent to 30,222 in the period, slipping to 16th position in the segment, which was led by the VW T-Roc, according to figures from Dataforce.

The Avenger will be built in Stellantis’ factory in Tychy, Poland, on the second generation of Stellantis’ eCMP platform. Jeep CEO Christian Meunier said that Tychy will become the 10th plant producing Jeep models globally.  

In addition to a full-electric version, which Jeep said would have a range of about 400 km, a mild-hybrid powertrain will be available, as will four-wheel drive. 

Stellantis’ current small full-electric SUVs – the Peugeot e-2008, Opel/Vauxhall Mokka-e and DS 3 Crossback E-Tense -- offer about 330 km of range from a 50-kilowatt-hour battery pack that powers a 100 kW motor.

Bruno said that even in the base front-wheel-drive version the Avenger will have better off-road capability than four-wheel-drive versions of the Renegade, which use an electric motor to power the rear wheels. The Avenger would be the first four-wheel-drive model on the eCMP platform.

Prices and technical specifications will be revealed in Paris on Oct. 17, when orders will open for a launch edition. Deliveries will begin in the first quarter of 2023, starting with Europe, followed by Japan and South Korea.

Jeep does not plan to sell the Avenger in the U.S. or China, a spokesman told Automotive News Europe.

At 4076 mm long, it will be 160 mm shorter than the Renegade, which is based on Fiat Chrysler’s Small Wide platform.

The Renegade is built in Melfi, central Italy, for Europe and North America. A plant in Brazil supplies Latin America, while production in China ceased early this year after Stellantis dissolved its troubled joint venture with GAC.

The Avenger’s exterior design combines the body proportions of the Renegade with the smoother surface treatment of the larger Compass compact SUV.

It retains the traditional Jeep vertical grille, which is flanked by narrow horizontal LED daytime running lights. Upper-trim versions include two-tone paint with a black roof and A-pillar.

SUV styling cues include pronounced wheel arches, a strong shoulder line and generous amounts of black body cladding. The rear has squared-off taillights with a stylized version of Jeep’s “X” design, and the bumpers have silver plastic skid plates.

To achieve a cleaner side profile, Jeep designers integrated the rear door handle in the C-pillar, a styling solution that Alfa Romeo introduced in 1997 on the 156 sedan.

Inside, the Avenger is expected to feature a new digital environment based on Android Automotive and derived from the latest models introduced by Stellantis. There will be a 10.25-inch central display and a digital instrument panel, 7 inches across for entry models and 10.25 inches on higher-trim versions.

Jeep is hoping to regain momentum in the small SUV/crossover segment. Sales in the segment fell just 3.3 percent in the first seven months of 2022, even as the overall market lost 13 percent during that period. 

The T-Roc led the segment through July, even though its sales declined by 11 percent to 97,197 units. The Dacia Duster, up by 3.5 percent, was second with 89,397 units. Last year’s leader, the Peugeot 2008, slid to third place as its sales declined by 29 percent to 85,734 units (see table below).

Full-electric models have so far played a limited role in the segment. Their total sales increased by 10 percent from January through July to 61,336 units, but that still represents just 5.4 percent. The Avenger will join just four models that offer full-electric variants: the Hyundai Kona (23,687 units), the e-2008 (15,370), Mokka-e (12,240) and the MG ZS (10,039), Dataforce figures show.

Meunier expects that Italy, France, Germany and the UK will be the biggest markets in Europe for the Avenger, as they are “maturing fast for electrification.”

Production of the Avenger is set to start in November, followed by a Fiat small crossover in 2023, Stellantis documents seen by Automotive News Europe show.

A third model for Alfa Romeo will follow in 2024. 

According to request for quotations given by Stellantis to suppliers and seen by ANE, overall production volume of these three models is planned to reach 300,000 units a year at full capacity.

The Avenger is planned for 110,000 units a year. Production of the Fiat small crossover will account for 130,000 units annually. The car will be a five-door model derived from the Centoventi concept shown at the 2019 Geneva auto show. Alfa Romeo's small SUV, which will reportedly be called the Brennero, will account for 60,000 units.

The Tychy plant currently builds the 15-year-old Fiat 500 minicar and the 11-year-old Lancia Ypsilon small car. It is not clear for how long production of these two models will continue alongside the three new small SUVs.