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.
The Automotive Business Council (naamsa) has expressed concern over the recent announcement by US President Donald Trump to introduce additional tariffs on all imported products under what has been termed ‘Liberation Day’ trade measures.
Despite potential headwinds, South Africa’s automotive industry remains committed to long-term growth and resilience.
South African consumers demonstrated a strong appetite for new passenger vehicles in March, according to figures released by the Automotive Business Council (naamsa).
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A light on my car’s dashboard came on, and instead of fixing the problem, I waited for the bulb to burn out. Crisis solved.
Jarod Kintz
Another plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) is on its way to South Africa; this time in the form of JAC Motors’ T9 2.0L TGDI PHEV double-cab bakkie.
Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa has begun full-scale production of the first-ever Ford Ranger Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) at its Silverton Manufacturing Plant.
“We welcome the announcement by the National Treasury to allocate funds to support the local production of new-energy vehicles and batteries, as well as related manufacturing projects,” says Joubert Roux, Founder of CHARGE.
