Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares photographed next to a Jeep Avenger at the Paris Motor Show on Oct. 17, 2022.
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Stellantis plans to offer a $25,000 all-electric Jeep vehicle in the U.S. “very soon” to better attract mainstream consumers amid slower-than-expected electric vehicle adoption, CEO Carlos Tavares said Wednesday.
Tavares disclosed few details about the upcoming vehicle, saying it will be priced around $25,000 in the U.S. to emulate Stellantis’ pricing of the Citroen e-C3 SUV, a low-cost model starting at 23,300 euros, or about $25,200, in Europe.
“In the same way we brought the 20,000 Euro Citroen e-C3, you will have a $25,000 Jeep very soon,” he said Wednesday during a Bernstein investor conference. “We are using the same expertise because we are a global company and this is totally fluid across the engineering world of Stellantis.”
Stellantis currently offers an all-electric version of its Avenger SUV in Europe, starting at about 35,000 euros, or about $37,800, according to its website. The vehicle is not sold in the U.S., where the automaker has focused on plug-in hybrid electric Jeep vehicles.
Offering a new EV for around $25,000 has long been a target for automakers such as Stellantis, Tesla and others. The importance of such a vehicle has grown more apparent as Chinese automakers such as BYD and Nio grow their sales of less-expensive EVs outside of China.
“If you ask me what is an affordable BEV, I would say 20,000 euros in Europe and $25,000 in the U.S.,” Tavares said. “So our job is to bring the safe, clean and affordable BEV to the U.S., $25,000. We’ll do it.”
Electric Jeep Wagoneer S.
Jeep
Jeep’s first all-electric vehicle for the U.S. is expected to be the large Wagoneer S SUV, due later this year. The company is scheduled to officially reveal the vehicle Thursday in New York. A Jeep Wrangler-inspired off-road vehicle called the Recon also is expected as soon as this year.
Tavares said Wednesday that the company expects to achieve cost parity between its all-electric vehicles and traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in the next “three years, max” to better compete with the growing “China invasion” of affordable EVs.
“It’s a very challenging period, very chaotic, very Darwinian,” Tavares said regarding the Chinese competitors, EV transition and potential consolidation of the automotive industry. “We are in the storm, and this storm is going to last a few years.”
Tavares’ comments come amid increasing geopolitical tensions surrounding China-made EVs in the U.S., Europe and other regions. Many in and around the automotive industry fear the less-expensive, China-made vehicles will flood the markets, undercutting domestic-produced EVs.
Electric Jeep Recon SUV.
Jeep
Tavares also said tariffs such as those the U.S. is implementing against Chinese EVs may delay their expansion to the U.S. but will not completely stop it.
“Yes, time helps, but you cannot stop the competition,” Tavares said. “Putting you behind a protectionist bubble is not going to help you to be competitive. … If your strategy is to shrink and stay inside of the bubble, it will buy you time, but certainly it will cut your future.”
The Biden administration’s 100% tariff announced earlier this month, up from a current import tax of about 25%, covers EVs imported from China but could still leave room for the often-cheap Chinese models to undercut domestic prices and leaves loopholes for imports made by Chinese automakers in other countries, such as neighboring Mexico. It also does nothing to address current or future gas-powered vehicles imported from the Communist country to the U.S.