Could this be built stateside? Lets face it, this "Smart" platform and its forebear the CMP have become the revenge of the K-platform. As someone once famously said, "It's Deja Vu all over again." In Europe the eCMP platform supports a Jeep Avenger and a Lancia rally racer with all the different brands each having unique styling. The K-car spawned all sorts of offspring, from the square originals to the beautiful Le Baron convertible, so this is nothing new.
Where am I going with all this? Perhaps if the legacy Mopar brands also each had their own C-segment product built on the Smart platform this would justify a production line in the US. We could have a small crossover for Chrysler, a tall hatchback for Dodge, the Renegade, and perhaps also a mini-Gladiator.
With the the current state of affairs in our market, the only way to offer battery electric versions would be using swappable batteries, while offering lease deals. For a Jeep Renegade there should be 2 different IC engine variants, a 48V mild hybrid with e-axle like the Jeep Avenger 4Xe, and a high voltage hybrid using the battery electric version's rear e-axle. The IC engines need to be built here, but I don't know if any of our North American engines will fit under the hood.
The Jeep people had better study the interior of the Slate Pickup truck. Many of us have our own tablets, nearly all of us have a smart phone. The base trims in both the Fiat Grande Panda and Fiat 500e have cradles for smart phones or perhaps a tablet. I don't want a tablet like control center glued to the top of my dashboard, keep things simple and unobtrusive.
moparinsiders.com
