AUTONEWS

Jeep to beat Tesla to $25,000 EV in US "very soon" — potential Citroën rebadge on the horizon for mainstream buyers

Jeep is confirmed to be launching an affordable electric vehicle in the US. The CEO of Jeep's parent company Stellantis has also promised that the vehicle will land in the US “very soon,” although he declined to provide an exact launch or vehicle specifications, although there are hints that it may share a platform with the Citroën e-C3.

Jeep has mostly sat out of the EV game in the US, with the exception of its PHEV Jeep Wrangler that offers 49 miles of electric-only range. But that seems to be changing soon, according to Stellantis CEO, Carlos Tavares (via CNBC). At a recent conference, Tavares teased that it would be launching $25,000 electric Jeep in the US "very soon."

While he gave no indications on what to expect from the upcoming electric car, it seems likely, given the price, that it will be built on the same e-CMP platform as the Citroën ë-C3 and Fiat 600e, making it a compact cross-over. The problem with that strategy is that the current-gen e-CMP platform lacks the battery capacity for the ~300-mile range that many US buyers demand from an EV.

Perhaps we can expect something like an updated Jeep Avenger EV(image above) with a range boost for the US market. At least the Stellantis e-CMP platform is technically versatile, offering designers a wide range of sizes and even a dual-motor AWD option, which would be perfect for something like an electric Jeep crossover.

The news of an electric Jeep arriving in the US in the coming months comes just weeks after rumours claimed that Tesla's much-awaited Model 2 — which was also supposed to launch at around $25,000 — would instead become a robotaxi and not a regular EV.

Perhaps most interestingly, during the conference, Tavares specifically mentions the influx of cheap Chinese EVs as the reason for wanting to introduce a $25,000 EV. This is in stark contrast to Tesla's alleged motivation for cancelling the Model 2, which was to avoid a race to the bottom against the very same cheap EVs from China.

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