Affordable EV incoming! Jeep locks in affordable electric SUV that will shock you with its price
Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares has pledged that Jeep’s affordable all-electric SUV will be priced from less than US$25,000 ($A37,500) in the USA – almost US$19,000 less than the cheapest Tesla Model Y.
Announcing the cheap Jeep at a recent Bernstein investor conference, Tavares said the new $25k model would draw influence from the €20,000 ($A32,500) Citroen e-C3 the firm is currently developing for the European market, and that the same engineering tricks and component sourcing insights will dramatically lower the cost of the incoming SUV.
“In the same way we brought the €20,000 Citroen e-C3, you will have a $25,000 Jeep very soon,” he said.
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“We are using the same expertise because we are a global company and this is totally fluid across the engineering world of Stellantis.”
No further details of how the cheap SUV will take shape but it’s thought to be much bigger than the Citroen e-C3 that it might share componentry with.
Some suggestions are that it might even sit at the lower end of the mid-size SUV category, making it almost Cherokee-sized.
Others imply the incoming Jeep could be even smaller take on the Polish-built Jeep Avenger made in Europe with less range, although the lack of success of small cars in the US suggests otherwise.
“If you ask me what is an affordable BEV, I would say 20,000 euros in Europe and $25,000 in the US,” Tavares said.
“So our job is to bring the safe, clean and affordable BEV to the US, $25,000. We’ll do it.”
Another option is for Stellantis to leverage Leapmotor as a source of affordable EVs, following the European car-maker giant snapping up a share of the Chinese start-up, although escalating import tariffs on China-made vehicles might scuttle that plan.
It’s not known if the new affordable Jeep EV will be exported but it’s a safe assumption it will be after both the latest Jeep Wagoneer S and inbound rugged Recon electric SUVs have both been confirmed for our market.
No official timeline has been set for the new Jeep but Taveras said that thanks to its new production and development techniques introduced with Stellantis that EVs would reach price parity with combustion vehicles within the next three years, suggesting electric cars from the likes of Peugeot, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Opel will become more affordable in the very near future.
