The Jeep® brand has made it no secret, that it intends to offer electrified variants of all of its vehicle lineup by 2022. The iconic off-road brand also launched a new 4xe sub-brand showcasing four-wheel-drive with its new electrified models. Jeep has already launched the Jeep Renegade and Compass 4xe models, which we have covered extensively on the site over the past year. But in a recent interview with caradvice.com.au, off-road diehard and Head of Jeep design, Mark Allen about the upcoming new electrified Wrangler.
“I truly believe that if we do an electric Wrangler, sometime in the future, that would actually be a better Wrangler,” said Allen, during a video conference with CarAdvice this week. “It would be more capable off-road. It has the ability to do things that we can’t do now,” he said. “Are there definite plans for that? No, not at the moment. Is that on the horizon? I think probably, yes.”
Although Allen played coy with the future of an upcoming Wrangler 4xe, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) showcased the vehicle at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (known as CES) in Las Vegas. Our spy photographers have also caught prototypes of the new plug-in Wrangler Unlimited doing testing in Metro Detroit. Jeep diehard and YouTuber Jeremy McLerran, covered the all-new Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 4xe at CES back in January (you can see the video below).
Even though, FCA showed off the product at the CES Show, it remained quiet about the details of the vehicle. Utilizing electric motors on the trail, power from the upcoming Wrangler 4xe models should provide maximum torque for rock-climbing at the touch of the throttle. So what does Allen think about the future of electrification of the brand? “If we do something like that, it shouldn’t be a compliance play because to me, it doesn’t really matter where the power comes from,” he said. “Just that it goes to all four wheels. That’s what’s important.”
It was expected that the new 2021 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 4xe would be shown to the public back in April, during the New York International Auto Show (NYIAS). While the NYIAS show was canceled due to the COVID-19 (or Coronavirus) pandemic, Jeep has yet to release details on when the brand will official announce the new Wrangler. According to our sources, production of the 2021 Jeep Wrangler will launch on Monday, August 10th, so we expect details about the new Wrangler 4xe to be coming soon.
