Jeep isn’t always top of mind when it comes to shopping for an electric vehicle, but the brand has seen surprising success with early orders for the new Avenger in Europe. The SUV has notched tens of thousands of orders there, and more than 40 percent of them are for the electric version.
Jeep said it received more than 40,000 orders for the Avenger, noting that over 16,000 of them were EVs. There have already been 18,487 Avenger registrations, including around 5,700 EVs (31 percent). Jeep is expanding the availability of the gas powertrain into more countries, so the gap between the two numbers will likely grow. The SUV also won European Car of the Year, which will drive sales of both variants.
Jeep isn’t offering the Avenger in the U.S., keeping it as a Europe-only affair. The automaker also doesn’t sell an electric model here, though its two plug-in hybrid offerings are surprisingly popular. The Wrangler 4xe is the best-selling plug-in hybrid in America, and that’s in spite of the fact that it only has a 21-mile electric range estimate. A whopping 38 percent of Wrangler sales were plug-in during the first quarter of this year, and the Grand Cherokee 4xe grew to 13 percent of the SUV’s overall sales volume.
The first Jeep EVs to land the U.S. will be the Recon and Wagoneer S, both with launches expected next year. The Recon is a midsize SUV with some design elements from the Wrangler, including removable doors and an open roof. It will also offer legitimate off-road capability, bringing electronic locking differentials and an expected dual-motor powertrain.
The Wagoneer S will be slightly smaller than the gas SUVs that bear the same name. Jeep hasn’t given out too many details on the upcoming midsizer, other than to claim a range of 400 miles and at least 600 horsepower. In its Wagoneer S concept rendering, Jeep showed a sharply styled, futuristic SUV, but we don’t yet know if the production model will be closer to its gas siblings in looks when it arrives.
