Jeep Avenger electric SUV unveiled during 4xe Day 2022

Few brands can claim to have an image of adventurer as powerful as Jeep, except perhaps Land Rover. This kind of marketing advantage (namely a skill and a specialty well anchored in the collective imagination) is something that is obtained with a lot of effort and over time. This is also the kind of thing that brands like DS or Genesis, to name a few, dream of obtaining (in other segments of the market, of course).

Jeep can therefore not do anything other than SUVs, because yes the era of real off-roaders (as opposed to an SUV) is a bit over, even in the Jeep range although some authentic and efficient dinosaurs continue : Wrangler in particular. And so if the Avenger uses the technical base of Stellantis which is used for the small models of the group (we therefore go from Italian bases [500X etc] to French bases, namely something quite modest and not really designed for the off-road), it is imperative that the brand offers an all-wheel-drive version in order to remain credible and perpetuate the illusion of a brand specializing in crossing and 4x4s. There will therefore be a 4X4 version although the platform is not designed for and that none of the little brothers (DS3 Crossback, 2008 II and Mokka) offer this option. It is therefore to be expected to see a motorized rear axle disembarking which will potentially be taken over fromHYbrid4 from Stellantis, there would then be an unprecedented multi-arm that none of its counterparts mentioned above benefits from.
It would also result in over 136bhp (unless the battery can deliver enough power for both motors) on these 4X4 versions, as it seems almost certain there will be cheaper front-wheel-drive variants, as proposed existing models of the Renegade and Compass type.

We can therefore summarize the Avenger as being a banal recovery and a cloning of existing models, while bringing in new technical devices which ultimately make it a little new and which distinguishes it from the others. We will nevertheless remain on the basis of a car made to travel on the pavement at modest speeds, far from what a real Jeep supposed to be able to cross bridges with pride should claim. But the era loves the false and the superficial , favored by a population that inquires less and is therefore easier to deceive. Looking like a fighter seems to have become more important than being a real fighter. But as we say a lot these days, easy times create weak men...

technical

It is a basic thermal car with a transverse engine (which is cheaper and smaller) which accommodates a 46 kWh battery (useful) and a 136 hp front electric motor and 'a second indeterminate on the rear axle (the surprise would be that there is a transmission like on the thermals, with a shaft that goes backwards. Being a thermal base, although not intended to return of the torque towards the rear, one could almost imagine this solution). The load will be 100 kW max as can be seen on existing models.
We therefore remain on something rather banal which should therefore be paired with modest prices (but I doubt that this is the case at a time of sustained and lasting inflation).

As for the name Avenger, it may lack credibility for those who like seriously designed products... This very clientelist and enticing name therefore has a rather negative effect for me, which supports the fact that the brand seeks to be a little too marketer its products to the detriment of their technical and functional skills. A brand like Jeep should exploit its image like Land Rover does (seriously) rather than slipping into immaturity and the overabundance of artifices that will end up discrediting the brand with customers who are not fooled.

Style

In terms of looks, it seems that this Jeep is a kind of electric Compass, so much does it have the stylistic characteristics (on the other hand, it is much shorter, by more than 30 cm!). The front, however, sports a slightly more pronounced charisma with a slightly more virile front end, with the famous signature at the level of the grille which dates from the Willys. The interior has not yet been unveiled, but we can expect something quite conservative (if we observe the Stellantis group and in particular the work on the Tonale) which uses the typical dual screen of the Fiat/Alfa Romeo of the beginning of the 2020s (a little better than what we find at Stellantis).