Jeep EVs to be "best ever"

While Jeep’s new global boss has talked up the SUV brand’s push to electrification, Australian release timing for any of the four battery-electric vehicles (EVs) or 10 plug-in hybrid (PHEVs) the US brand has promised by 2022 remain hazy at best.

Speaking during the drive of the new Jeep Gladiator pick-up in New Zealand last week (watch out for our review in mid-January), Christian Meunier was enthusiastic about what electrification would deliver for the brand.

“These cars are going to be the best Jeeps ever built,” he declared. “They are not just going to be electric Jeeps, they are going to be the best product ever. They will have that emotional part as well.

“They are going to be green, they are going to be zero-emissions – at least for 50km for the plug-in … and they are going to be the most capable, fastest and silent.

“There is nothing cooler in my mind than driving in nature in silence.”

But when quizzed about the electrified potential for Jeeps in Australia, he hedged.

“I think it will be interesting to see first how electrification for Jeep succeeds in Europe, in China and in the US, because these are the big markets where we are going to be really aggressive and offensive,” he said.

“I am very confident it will work well … and when we do it’s very obvious many other markets are going to follow, including Australia.”

Australia’s position as a slow adopter of electrified vehicles and the lack of subsidies for the technology here no doubt encourages a go-slow.

But Jeep’s Australian arm also has the more immediate issue of its February reboot, as reported here.

Meunier expects that overhaul of the brand locally to eventually produce 50,000 sales per annum, although he didn’t put a timeline on that.

Presumably, it’s a few years away and by then there might be an electrified vehicle or two in the local line-up.

While every Jeep will have an electrified option by 2021, Jeep has so far officially confirmed a plug-in version of the Wrangler 4x4, which will go on sale in the USA in 2020.

It has also revealed PHEV versions of the small Compass and Renegade mini SUVs, although the latter has been quietly discontinued in Australia, so we definitely won’t see that.

A plug-in version of the China-only Grand Commander has also been launched recently.

Documents relating to a new deal between Jeep’s parent FCA and the United Auto Workers union also confirm PHEV versions of the next Jeep Grand Cherokee and the new Wagoneer large SUV are on the way.

Meunier promised the electrification of Jeep would attract a new set of customer that currently finds the “aggressive stance” of Jeep’s off-putting.

“Our mission is greenest SUV brand in the world … but also the most capable and fun to drive off and on-road.”

Meunier also revealed a significant upgrade in connectivity for Jeep over the next 18 months.

“We will have the ability to do all sorts of things; communicate to the customers, pull data to ensure we anticipate issues that not happen on the car, so all the things that are pretty standard across the industry.

“But on top of that, off-road … you use that connectivity to communicate with your peers. There is another Wrangler 10 miles away, you can communicate, you can find that person on the map.

“There is many other things we can do. We can detect water depth for instance … stay tuned there are many cool features coming.”

Globally, Jeep has also committed to offering Level 3 autonomous driving capability by 2021.