Stellantis has come right out and said that the Avenger is too small for the American market, and then explained this further with a silly word (emphasis mine): Rightsized. Hmm. Goofy marketing words or not, Stellantis isn’t wrong, because the Avenger is a size of vehicle that makes a ton of sense for Europe, where vehicles of this size class are sold by the metric bushel. The size also makes sense for Japan and South Korea, where the Avenger will be sold as well.
Jeep said it’s targeting a range of 400 kilometers/about 250 miles, and its stated that “…this new SUV will offer impressive ground clearance, breakover and approach angles for its segment…” This at least suggests Jeep giving a bit of thought to the car’s off-road capabilities, though I suspect that the actual use case of these will be general-use city and some highway driving by people who just want to feel like they could take it off road if they had to, like if a yeti escaped from the zoo and was terrorizing the suburbs of Amsterdam, or something. Want to hear some marketing talk about the Avenger? Too bad!
The Avenger will be positioned below the Renegade, and be built at “high-efficiency plant in Tychy, Poland.” In a lot of ways, it makes sense to think of it as a sort of electrified Renegade, which is similar in size and design to the Avenger, which is a usable, small (hopefully affordable) EV with enough of that rugged-looking Jeep brand identity and styling and maybe just enough off-road capability to make it stand out from other small EV crossovers and SUVs.
It’s a fairly attractive chunky little SUV, with that shark fin-like C-pillar and black, floating roof (notably, the lack of a cargo area window means it is Not A Wagon), and there are some nice graphical touches that develop from the Renegade design language in the taillights and front end. Also, great color for these first photos. Jeep will officially show the Avenger at the Paris Motor Show on October 17, where hopefully they’ll announce pricing, and the car should show up in Jeep showrooms in early 2023.
