Auto China 2026 promises to be milestone event
Auto China 2026 marks another milestone in the evolution of an event that has tracked China’s rise from emerging market to global automotive powerhouse.
- Industry News
- 16 April 2026
Another mid-sized, fully electric SUV that made its debut at the Paris Motor Show recently, was the Jeep Avenger from the Stellantis Group.
The Avenger is the first Jeep properly designed and engineered by Europe, for Europe. The company calls it a “game changer” for the brand and being a small electric SUV, it is certainly on-trend and without plenty of the baggage of the models before it in terms emissions.
As the first fully designed electric vehicle from the brand, it boasts a 400V electric motor driving the front wheels with 116 kW and 260 Nm torque. A 54 kWh battery powers the electric SUV, meaning it has roughly a range of 402 km, or 545 km miles when used in urban settings, according to Jeep.
It’ll take you three minutes to get about 18 miles of range when using DC fast chargers, which will also get you from 20 to 80 percent charged on the Avenger in 24 minutes. When using the less powerful AC charging, it’ll take you 5.5 hours to fully charge the Avenger. Jeep claims that Europeans only drive around 18 miles a day, meaning they likely will not have to charge the Avenger that often.
The front-wheel drive SUV has 18-inch wheels, a 10.25-inch infotainment system, and level two autonomous driving. The Avenger will have some typical Jeep features like Hill Descent Control and Selec-Terrain where you can choose from six modes of driving to match driving conditions. To make it more off-road ready, the Avenger has 20-centimetre ground clearance, 20-degree approach angle and a 32-degree departure angle.
The Jeep Avenger could hit the roads in Europe and hopefully South Africa by 2024 although no official time-frame has been mentioned.
Toyota Motor Corporation and Isuzu Motors are stepping up plans to bring hydrogen power into Japan’s light‑duty truck market, confirming a jointly developed fuel cell model scheduled for production in the 2027 financial year.
BYD and Tesla, two giants of the electric vehicle industry, are navigating diverging challenges. BYD faces mounting competition in China and questions over its pricing strategy, while Tesla grapples with fading incentives and unsold inventory in the United States.
Volvo has commenced on-road testing of heavy trucks powered by hydrogen combustion engines. This pioneering solution places Volvo at the forefront of the industry, with commercial launch planned before 2030.