BYD brings affordable PHEV SUV to the market
BYD has added another model to its line-up in South Africa. This time it is the Sealion 5, which slots in below the larger Sealine 6, which is also available locally.
- Product News
- 15 December 2025
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.
According to a Reuters report, Ford and Renault have agreed to work together on a new generation of compact, lower-priced electric cars for Europe, while also expanding cooperation on commercial vans, as both manufacturers seek to defend their market positions against increasingly aggressive Chinese rivals.
As South Africa forges ahead in the automotive landscape, a notable divide has emerged in the growing realm of new-energy vehicles.
Kenya’s automotive industry recently made headlines when Tad Motors unveiled its first range of locally assembled electric vehicles (EVs), igniting discussions across Africa about the continent’s growing capacity for indigenous mobility solutions.