Jeep will launch an all-new 4×4 model of the Avenger next year.
The four-wheel-drive edition of the newly launched Jeep Avenger will arrive next year rather than in 2023.
Jeep launched its first European-specific model in front-wheel-drive form – and as a pure-electric model in the vast majority of markets. Jeep Australia is yet to confirm the model’s arrival locally, although there is a chance it will go on sale here too.
Jeep has, however, openly admitted that it has a four-wheel-drive Avenger in the pipeline, supporting the policy that every Jeep should have that off-road focused set-up in its range. It revealed a concept previewing the car (pictured) that was said to feature a dual-motor EV powertrain – at the 2022 Paris Motor Show.
The regular front-drive Avenger has already attracted 7000 pre-orders across Europe – more than for any previous Jeep. And speaking to Automotive Daily at the Brussels Motor Show, the company’s European boss Antonella Bruno said that this strong early demand, and the two-wheel-drive car’s ability off road, mean that the firm can be “patient” with the four-wheel-drive edition.
“It’s another strength of the Avenger,” Bruno said. “The two-wheel-drive edition is as capable off road as a Renegade. But yes, the 4×4 will arrive, and when it does, it will deliver the ultimate capability. There is a plan; we’re going to launch the BEV and then the 4×4 will arrive in 2024.”
That distinction between BEV and 4×4 could be a reference to a non-electric powertrain. Despite the fact the Avenger is being launched as an EV nearly everywhere, executives have been coy on whether the 4×4 concept’s all-electric powertrain will make it into production. A hybrid set-up, incorporating an electric motor on the back axle, could be another potential solution.
Jeep used the Paris Motor Show to showcase its ability to make the new Avenger baby SUV four-wheel drive, with the Avenger 4×4 Concept.
The Avenger is based on an evolution of the e-CMP platform that also underpins front-drive SUVs like the Peugeot e-2008. But Jeep engineers have worked on the revisions to the architecture to allow four-wheel drive, and the Paris show car was designed to demonstrate how a more extreme off-roader version of the Avenger could look.
The concept has a wider track and stretched wheelarches to help accommodate chunky all-terrain tyres, and the approach, breakover and departure angles have been improved compared with those of the regular Avenger, at 21 degrees, 20 degrees and 34 degrees respectively.
Other tweaks include a lightweight cargo system that uses belts to fix loads above the roof, which has scratch protection, extra cladding and more floodlights in the front bumper, and an bonnet sticker designed to minimise reflection and glare through the windscreen.
Jeep confirmed that the Avenger “will be added to the range of 4xe models coming in the future” but beyond saying that the powertrain had been “enhanced by electrification”, it declined to provide details on whether a combustion engine is involved.