Funky wheels: China’s big drive in South Africa
No, the Chinese are not coming to take over – they are already busy accomplishing it.
- Industry News
- 4 May 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.
No, the Chinese are not coming to take over – they are already busy accomplishing it.
Motorists and households already under pressure will have to dig deeper into their pockets yet again from Wednesday, with sharp fuel and energy price hikes taking effect across South Africa.
Marcia Mayaba, Commercial Director at Dunlop Tyres South Africa, has been recognised as the top achiever at the recently held Woman of Stature Awards South Africa.
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
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Zero Carbon Charge (CHARGE) welcomes the government’s extension of short term fuel levy relief measures aimed at cushioning consumers from rising fuel prices, but cautions that these interventions do not address the underlying structural challenge facing South Africa’s transport economy.
Volvo Cars has started building the fully electric EX60 at its Torslanda factory outside Gothenburg, with first customer deliveries due in early summer.
At Auto China 2026, Nissan unveiled two new NEV SUV concept cars, in its accelerated product rollout. It also highlights China’s role as one of the company’s lead markets and a global innovation and export hub, according to Nissan.