Paris - After releasing the first few pictures of the new Jeep Avenger last month, the Stellantis-owned North American brand fully revealed its new baby SUV at the Paris Motor Show on Monday.
Described as being “right-sized” for Europe, the Jeep Avenger won’t be sold in the brand’s US home market and it remains to be seen whether South Africans will get to experience the new Jeeplet.
For now, the company has only released details about the fully-electric version of its new SUV, but a conventional turbocharged petrol engine will also be offered. That would make sense as we don’t know how else Jeep would reach its stated intention of positioning the Avenger beneath the Renegade as the entry-point to the brand.
Measuring 4.08 metres in length, the Avenger is 160mm shorter than the Renegade, and features short overhangs, but despite its small size the little Jeep still has a relatively decent ground clearance of 200mm.
Powering the front wheels only is an electric motor that produces 115kW and 260Nm. Feeding it is a 54 kWh battery that’s said to allow a WLTP cycle range of 400km and the carmaker claims that 550km is possible in the urban cycle. Jeep has also installed under-body skid plates to protect the batteries during off-road driving.
Although as a front-driven product it’s not going to offer the kind of trail-crawling ability that you’d expect from the brand’s 4x4 models, it should fare better off the beaten track than most crossovers, thanks to the standard fitment of Hill Descent Control as well as Jeep’s Selec-Terrain system. The latter offers six driving modes: Normal, Eco, Sport, Snow, Mud and Sand.
The compact Jeep is also available with Level 2 semi-autonomous driving functionality, thanks to its combination of Active Cruise Control, Lane Centering and Traffic Jam Assist.
The Avenger is equipped with a 10.25-inch Uconnect infotainment system as well as separate digital instrumentation that’s available in two sizes: 7.0 or 10.25 inches. Boasting smartphone-like graphics, the infotainment system also allows owners to build their own interface, with up to 12 widgets per page, over six pages.
The Jeep Avenger is one of four fully-electric vehicles that Jeep will introduce to Europe by 2025.
“The new Jeep Avenger represents a key milestone for the brand as it is the first of a portfolio of all-new Jeep BEVs to be introduced in Europe,” said Jeep CEO Christian Meunier.
“It offers Jeep brand capability that is right sized for the European market and at the Paris Motor Show, we are showcasing why it is a great all-electric Jeep brand alternative to current players in the B-SUV segment.”