All-electric Jeep coming in 2023; Dodge plug-in hybrid set for next year

Jeep will launch its first all-electric vehicle in the first half of 2023, parent Stellantis NV said Tuesday, and Dodge will have a plug-in hybrid offering next year.

After investors shrugged last month over the transatlantic automaker's strategy to invest about $35.5 billion in electrified vehicles by 2025 for lacking specifics, Stellantis shared more details on its plan to launch 21 low-emission vehicles in the next two years as it reported $7 billion in profitability for the first half of the year.

Confirmation of the first battery-electric Jeep comes after the brand said it intends to offer a BEV in each of its segments by 2025. The schedule included in an earnings presentation did not specify on which nameplate the full EV technology will launch in 2023 or in which regions.

The SUV brand currently offers the plug-in hybrid Wrangler 4xe. The smaller Compass and Renegade models have a plug-in option in Europe and China, and there is a plug-in hybrid of the Commander SUV in China. Jeep will launch the plug-in hybrid Grand Cherokee before the end of the year.

The Magneto all-electric concept Wrangler based on the internal combustion engine model was tested this spring in Moab, Utah, during Jeep's annual Easter off-roading safari. Jeep forecasts 70% of its sales will be electrified by 2025, including hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles.

Few details also were immediately available on Dodge's forthcoming plug-in hybrid in 2022. Tim Kuniskis, the performance brand's CEO, last month said it would introduce a fully electric muscle car in 2024 as improvements to horsepower from vehicles with internal combustion engines become limited and emissions regulations threaten the muscle car's future.

Stellantis did not list any launches of plug-in hybrids or EVs for Ram, which has said it will launch a fully electric Ram 1500 pickup in 2024, or for Chrysler, which already offers the plug-in hybrid Pacifica minivan. CEO Carlos Tavares, however, did say the company is addressing Chrysler's profitability.

"We are now preparing for the rebound of this brand," he said during an earnings conference call on Tuesday. "We will tell you more before the end of this year, but the plans are moving quite nicely to a very exciting proposal that is going to be based on fresh product, fresh technology, and most probably an innovative distribution model."

Premium brand Alfa Romeo will go fully electric in 2027 in North America, Europe and China, the company added. One launch is scheduled in 2022 for the Italy-built Tonale SUV, which will be marketed in Europe starting next June. It also will be sold in North America.

Maserati will launch its first all-electric vehicle — the GranTurismo — in 2022 and another in the first half of 2023. The luxury brand's CEO for the Americas, Bill Peffer, told The Detroit News last month that Maserati isn't planning on introducing any hybrids in North America but instead is going straight to EVs. Maserati expects to have its lineup electrified by 2025.

Stellantis' 21 electrified launches in the next 24 months include 10 plug-in hybrids and 11 battery-electric vehicles. It currently has 11 full EVs available mostly in Europe.

"We are racing on electrification," Tavares said. "We are all in."

bnoble@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @BreanaCNoble