The mysterious all-wheel drive Jeep Avenger will appear only in 2024

Since debuting last October at the Paris Motor Show, the Jeep Avenger has won the European Car of the Year 2023 competition and has racked up more than 7,000 pre-orders in Europe. Now Avenger is available in all European countries with an electric power plant (a single electric motor on the front axle produces 156 hp), and a gasoline modification with a 1.2 PureTech turbocharger (100 hp) is offered only in selected countries - for example, in Italy and Spain.

The Jeep Avenger is produced at the Fiat plant in the Polish city of Tychy, while the petrol version is not available in Poland. The most attractive prices are in Spain: here, a basic gasoline Avenger with a manual gearbox (there are no versions with an automatic transmission) on 16-inch forged wheels costs from 21,800 euros, the electric version is much more expensive - from 35,100 euros.

Meanwhile, along with the serial Avenger, the Jeep brand showed a 4x4 concept version in Paris, promising that it would also become serial in the future, but hiding technical details and a specific release date. The all-wheel drive concept differs from the serial front-wheel drive crossover with an expanded track, improved geometric cross-country ability (ground clearance - more than 200 mm), “toothy” tires, exposed towing loops, additional headlights on the front and a special protective decor.

At the current Brussels Motor Show, a representative of the British magazine Auto Express asked the head of Jeep Europe, Antonella Bruno, when the Avenger 4x4 will go on sale. Antonella Bruno said that in 2024, they say, there is nowhere to rush, since the front-wheel drive Avenger started very cheerfully and successfully makes the box office, and the 4x4 version will be served, so to speak, for dessert.

The most interesting thing is that Bruno and other Jeep representatives cannot confirm that the all-wheel drive Avenger will be fully electric, although the decorative blue inserts on the concept seem to hint at this. The name of the concept gives a hint - 4x4 instead of 4x. The Jeep brand now designates plug-in hybrid models capable of driving exclusively on electric traction with the 4x index . Perhaps the all-wheel drive Avenger will not be able to move only on electric traction, and its all-wheel drive will either be mechanical or, more likely, will be made like the Toyota Yaris Cross , in which the rear wheels are rotated by a small auxiliary electric motor that is not capable of driving the car alone, but the main the engine is a gasoline engine.

Recall that the Jeep Avenger is based on the French CMP modular platform, which was originally developed only for front-wheel drive. The desire to make a four-wheel drive car on the CMP will require either a thorough redrawing of the platform or “palliative” solutions, like the aforementioned Toyota Yaris Cross. An all-electric version with a rear auxiliary motor is also a possibility. We'll find out next year what decision Jeep will end up choosing.