Jeep’s first ever fully electric SUV has broken cover at a Stellantis event outlining the future of the carmaking giant. CEO Carlos Tavares revealed front and rear images of the unnamed small SUV that will hit European showrooms in early 2023, plus another teaser of the RAM 1500 BEV truck that arrives the following year. The news came during a live presentation at which Tavares outlined Stellantis’s plans to offer 75 different battery-electric vehicles by 2030, including two further Jeep EVs by 2024: an off-road Jeep UV (utility vehicle), and a lifestyle family SUV.
Tavares didn’t reveal any technical or
pricing details about the new small Jeep EV, but from the images we can see its
clear road-based intentions. It features chunky, crossover-like styling with
wide arches, a closed-off grille with the classic Jeep grille bars topped off
by a small letter “e”, and a matte black hood.
Stellantis’s next regeneration STLA
electric platforms, and specifically the STLA Small version this car could
potentially use, are understood to be a few years out, so it’s possible the new
vehicle could be built on a modified version of the e-CMP electric platform
developed by PSA. That’s currently used by the Peugeot e208 and Opel Corsa e, both
of which, it’s worth noting, are only available with front-wheel drive.
Details on the Ram 1500 BEV were even
sketchier, though two new teaser images revealed a surprisingly car-like rake
to the windshield, muscular arch flares front and rear, and a prominent hood
bulge. They also premiered a distinctive LED lighting treatment different to
the one seen on previous teasers. The new images show a pair of headlights bars
on either side of an illuminated Ram badge, and a pair of hockey stick lights
at the rear, also separated by “Ram” lettering.
Again, Tavares made no mention of
technical details, saying only that the full-size truck would use use the
Stellantis Frame platform and be on sale in 2024. But his assertion that the
Ram would satisfy every buyer’s wishes was interesting for the attribute it
left out. “According to our internal performance index, our Ram 1500 will
outperform all competitors on the attributes customers car most about,” said
Tavares, before reeling off a customer request list comprising range, towing,
payload and charge time. But he made no mention of performance in the actual
list despite mentioning the word twice in the build-up to it.
Tavares did confirm that the 1500 BEV
wasn’t the only Ram vehicle getting a shot of electricity. “Ram will continue
delivering fully electric solutions in the majority of its segments by 2025,”
he told attendees.
