The Wrangler, it appears, won’t be the only Jeep getting a plug-in hybrid powertrain in the near-future. Reports are that Jeep will produce a Jeep Renegade PHEV, to be built at FCA’s plant in Melfi, Italy. We reported earlier this year on rumours of a Renegade hybrid being in the works; now it appears they were well-founded.
It’s expected that FCA will build the first physical units in 2019 before getting commercial production underway early in 2020. The current Jeep Renegade is assembled at the Melfi plant, which will undergo some retooling to allow it to produce the plug-in hybrid version.
It’s likely though not certain that the Renegade PHEV will make its way to the North American market. You’ll recall that FCA’s five-year plan unveiled earlier this year included development of a front-wheel-drive platform for Jeep models like the Cherokee and the smaller Renegade.
The company also said an electric motor would be fitted in the vehicles to power the rear wheels. Overall, Jeep wants to have eight plug-in hybrid models on the American market by 2022, with the Wrangler being the first, sometime in 2020.
FCA does not yet have a particularly large roster of vehicles powered by electricity. The hybrid version of the Chrycler Pacifica minivan was introduced for the 2017 model-year, and the Ram 1500 pickup now has a mild hybrid version as well. That leaves a lot of ground to cover for FCA to meet its stated target of having 30 models with electrified powertrains in its lineup by 2022, which is not that far away.
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