While Jeep’s global plans consist of launching fully-electric vehicles in the near future, it is yet to be seen when the carmaker will introduce the electrified range to the Indian market
Jeep is a brand that is known for making rugged vehicles, primarily SUVs – both crossovers and fully off-road worthy SUVs, as well as a pickup truck. However, Jeep has been trying to introduce some eco-friendly cars to its line-up, including a range of plug-in-hybrid vehicles dubbed 4xe.
However, it looks like the American brand wants to go all in on this plan of building cleaner vehicles. Jeep’s Global President, Christian Meunier, says he wants the brand to grow globally, and make its image over into that of the world’s “greenest SUV brand.” It should be noted that the emission norms in the United States aren’t as stringent as Europe, and it looks like Jeep’s future expansion plans certainly includes more vehicles for EU.
According to a report by Automotive News, Jeep will be benefitting from synergies with France’s PSA Groupe – the global automaker that FCA is in the process of officially merging with. It should be noted Groupe PSA has claimed to have a fully electrified vehicle range by 2025, and has a wide manufacturing and distribution network in Europe.
According to Meunier, Jeep will benefit a lot from the merger. “There is obviously a lot of potential between platform, drivetrain, cost reduction and things like that. There is a lot of potential opportunities of synergies and manufacturing footprint,” he added.
In September this year, Jeep had revealed its first electrified vehicle for the US market, i.e. the plug-in-hybrid Jeep Wrangler 4xe. However, the American carmaker is yet to introduce a fully-electric vehicle. With the rising shift from ICE vehicles to EVs globally, it seems like Jeep might step into the EV world sooner than we had imagined.
However, Jeep certainly does not want to let go off its off-roading pedigree. Meunier went on to say that “Additional torque, driving in silence, with extra exceptional acceleration and torque – that’s the perfect fit. Jeep and electrification are meant to be together.” It will be interesting to see what the future will be like for the American automaker.