The fifth-generation Jeep Grand Cherokee is set to be fully launch at the New York Auto Show in August, which means that, ahead of that, Jeep will keep dropping crumbs of new information about it to generate blogs like this. In this case, a photo.
The Grand Cherokee 4xe, to the surprise of no one, looks like a Grand Cherokee with a charging port, unveiled Thursday as part of Stellantis’s big EV Day, in which it described how it planned to electrify its brands. In Jeep’s case, that means planning to offer a “zero-emission vehicle” — a plug-in hybrid would seem to count as that, given that it can go on all-electric power for a bit — in every SUV segment by 2025. There will also be a Grand Wagoneer 4xe and a Wagoneer one too, which we had previously wondered about.
Jeep claimed that 70 percent of its sales will be electrified by 2025 as well, which could mean either battery electric or mild hybrid but, given Jeep’s offerings today, likely just means lots of 4xe.
If you’re wondering why all of this can’t happen in America before 2025, that is a fair question, since Jeep said Monday that its complete SUV lineup in Europe already offers 4xe technology. Demand and regulations are surely the pertinent issues there, as in, regulations are stricter in Europe and it is a mystery to me who, exactly, wants a PHEV Jeep in America.
Also: How many people are going to end up with a PHEV Jeep without even knowing it?
Given that dealers aren’t too high on EVs to begin with, my guess is a fair amount, since what kind of dealer leases a PHEV without mentioning the whole plug-in thing, if this tweet is any evidence? The switch to EVs is going to be long and full of delightful idiocy like this, get ready.
