2024 Jeep Wagoneer S EV
Jeep
NEW YORK – The primary all-electric Jeep SUV for the U.S. shall be the 2024 Wagoneer S, starting at about $72,000 when it’s scheduled to go on sale this fall.
The Stellantis-owned brand revealed the vehicle and pricing Thursday, portraying it as a “latest chapter” for the quintessential American SUV brand that has struggled with domestic sales lately.
“This represents quite a bit. It’s the primary global [all-electric vehicle] in-built North America, designed within the U.S. … for the world,” Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa told CNBC during an interview after revealing the vehicle. “It’s a milestone in our history.”
Filosa, who began leading Jeep in December, said the brand is in “implausible shape” nevertheless it’s within the midst of a “transition like all of the automotive brands nowadays” involving electrification.
Despite a slower than expected adoption of EVs within the U.S., Filosa said the brand will not be apprehensive about consumer adoption because its additive to the Jeep’s lineup, which is able to proceed to supply traditional gas-powered SUVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and “extended-range” electric vehicles starting next 12 months.
Jeep Wagoneer S EV concept
Michael Wayland / CNBC
A “Launch Edition” of the Wagoneer S will initially be available with a 400-volt, 100-kilowatt-hour battery pack able to greater than 300 miles on a single charge, 600 horsepower and 617 pound-feet of torque for a 0-60 mph acceleration of three.4 seconds. It’s able to charging from 20%-80% in 23 minutes using a DC Fast charger, based on the corporate.
Jeep also revealed a Trailhawk off-road performance concept of the EV, which Filosa said “hopefully soon will grow to be a product.”
Filosa said cheaper models of the Wagoneer S will start being released roughly six months after the Launch Edition.
The $71,995 starting price of the Wagoneer S EV sits between gas-powered versions of the Wagoneer, starting at about $63,000, and more luxurious Grand Wagoneer, starting at roughly $92,000.
Jeep also will introduce a latest unnamed midsize SUV next 12 months to exchange its discontinued Cherokee, Filosa said.
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S EV
Jeep
He also said the corporate will release electric, extended-range versions of the normal gas-powered Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer in 2025. The technology, which uses an engine as a gas-powered generator along with EV batteries, is predicted to debut on the upcoming Ram Ramcharger pickup truck.
U.S. EV offensive
The Wagoneer S is the start of what Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares this week called the automaker’s EV offensive for the U.S., including six to eight all-electric vehicles this 12 months.
“There is a large amount of opportunities here within the U.S. We are only starting the offensive of our electrification,” Tavares said Wednesday during a Bernstein investor conference.
For Jeep, the Wagoneer S is predicted to be followed by a Wrangler-inspired off-road vehicle called the Recon later this 12 months and a latest roughly $25,000 EV “very soon,” Tavares said Wednesday without disclosing additional details.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares holds a news conference after meeting with unions, in Turin, Italy, March 31, 2022.
Massimo Pinca | Reuters
For years, Tavares has been outspoken in regards to the company being forced to supply EVs, which cost 40% more, because of regulatory requirements and never consumer demand. On Wednesday, he described EVs as a “cost-cutting exercise” to make sure the vehicles are profitable.
The EVs are a shift for Jeep within the U.S., where the brand has been specializing in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, or PHEVs, reminiscent of its Wrangler and Grand Cherokee SUVs. The plug-in vehicles accounted for 17.5% of Jeep’s sales this 12 months.
Filosa said Jeep, which is currently No. 1 in PHEVs within the U.S., expects to proceed growing sales of those vehicles along with the upcoming EVs.
“Electrification to us to this point has been working very, thoroughly. Principally,” he said through the reveal event, “we built the PHEV industry. We own this a part of the market.
Jeep Wagoneer S Trailhawk EV concept
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Stellantis’ total PHEV U.S. sales last 12 months was nearly 143,000, up 124% in comparison with 2022. Leading the best way was Jeep, including 67,429 Jeep Wrangler and 45,684 Jeep Grand Cherokee “4xe” SUVs.
Jeep is using 4xe badging as a play on the brand’s off-road fame combined with electrification, including EVs and PHEVs.
Wagoneer S
The Wagoneer S is Jeep’s first “global” EV, based on the corporate. The Jeep brand’s first EV model called the Avenger, a small SUV starting at about 35,000 euros, or about $37,800, went on sale last 12 months in Europe.
The Wagoneer S, which shall be produced at a plant in Mexico, is predicated on Stellantis’ large EV platform, which is predicted to underpin eight vehicles for the corporate from 2024-2026.
2024 Jeep Wagoneer S EV “R-Wing”
Jeep
Despite sharing the “Wagoneer” name with Jeep’s current gas-powered model, the five-passenger, two-row EV shares little with its three-row traditional internal combustion engine counterpart apart from some Jeep styling.
Probably the most notable difference on the outside is a more modern interpretation of the brand’s iconic seven-slotted grille, which the EV doesn’t really need for cooling. It’s indented and the slots are solid and interconnected with each other in comparison with seven separate slots.
“We reinvented the normal seven-slot grille,” said Ralph Gilles, Stellantis head of design. “I’m so rattling happy with this.”
The Wagoneer S also incorporates a large “R-Wing,” an open spoiler on the back of the SUV. Gilles said the goal was to not make a “jellybean” like many EVs with good aerodynamics currently being sold within the U.S.
The Wagoneer S is way less boxy that the gasoline model, assisting in it in being essentially the most aerodynamic Jeep ever produced by the brand, the corporate said.
Stellantis design chief Ralph Gilles through the unveiling of the Jeep Wagoneer S EV on May 30, 2024 in Recent York City.
Michael Wayland / CNBC
Gilles said the Wagoneer name is more representative of the luxuriousness of the vehicle somewhat than a singular design.
Contained in the vehicle greater than 45 inches of screens, including a 12.3-inch center display, and a mixture of metal, fake leather and other sustainable materials.
Gilles, a longtime renowned automobile designer with the corporate, said wood was banned from the inside of the vehicle. It also doesn’t feature any chrome on the outside of the SUV. Those decisions were made following input from younger designers to make the vehicle more sustainable and attractive for younger buyers.
“If that is going to be a green vehicle, we needed to rethink the materials inside,” Gilles said. “There was an enormous push for sustainable materials all over the place.”
