In March, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares showed off a couple of slides of the Jeep® brand’s first-ever 100% battery-electric vehicle (BEV) during the company’s “Dare Forward 2030 strategic plan presentation.“ Known internally as the “Jeep Junior” or Project 516, the new B-segment SUV should be slightly smaller than the globally popular Renegade (BU) and offer an affordable electric SUV to the Jeep masses.
According to the information released during the Stellantis EV Day 2021 presentation, due to the timeline, the new mini-compact SUV will not be based on the all-new STLA Small architecture, instead will be built upon the second-generation eCMP platform. This is due to the fact that Stellantis has already announced that the STLA Small architecture won’t debut until the 2026 model year.
Our sources have indicated that the new mini-Jeep will in fact have an electronic all-wheel-drive (eAWD) as an option. Front-wheel-drive (FWD) will remain standard and the product should feature not just BEVs, but mild-hybrid (mHEV) as well. It will be the only variant of the four possible models coming (Alfa Romeo, FIAT, and Citroën being the others) to offer an AWD capability.
A low-resolution photo of Project 516, has been leaked on the website AutoPareri.com. It shows a camouflaged prototype looking very similar to the sketches we were shown during the EV Day 2021 presentation.
At the front of the vehicle, the new B-SUV will not feature the traditional rounded headlights from the Renegade. Instead LED headlamps with be located in a curvy headlamp design with a LED daytime running light (DRL) running on the brow of the lens. LED fog lights are fixed up high, shown on the updated Compass and all-new Commander D-SUV.
According to our sources, the Jeepster name may be attached to the new B-SUV. The nameplate was most recently used on the Renegade for a special edition model. The new electric Jeep will be manufactured at the Stellantis Tychy, Poland plant in Q4 of this year.
