Make it make sense. The Jeep Wrangler 4Xe and Grand Cherokee 4Xe are the 2 best-selling plug-in hybrid autos within the U.S. Over 55,000 items of the Wrangler 4Xe had been bought in 2024, which made up 37 % of all Wrangler gross sales within the U.S. (the numbers had been even higher in 2023). Jeep additionally bought 27,590 items of the Grand Cherokee 4Xe final 12 months, which comprised 13 % of all Grand Cherokee gross sales. So why, then, is Automotive Information reporting that Stellantis has advised its suppliers in a Sept. 19 letter that it is canceling the introduction of a Jeep Gladiator 4Xe?
What this implies is that U.S. clients are being disadvantaged of their first plug-in hybrid pickup truck. The Ford F-150 Powerboost and Toyota Tundra supply conventional hybrid powertrains, however no plug, whereas Ram’s range-extended plug-in hybrid pickup truck has been delayed for years. A Gladiator 4Xe would seemingly not require an enormous growth price range since it will share so many elements with the usual Wrangler, so why within the face of a lot PHEV success would Stellantis kill it?
Why Stellantis Killed The Gladiator 4Xe
We will suppose of some explanation why Stellantis killed the Gladiator 4Xe. The corporate has a brand new CEO who’s following a earlier CEO who wager large on electrification and failed spectacularly in some regards. The federal government can also be ending its federal tax incentive for brand spanking new EV purchases. Lastly, the Gladiator is the least fashionable Wrangler mannequin with comparatively disappointing gross sales.
Carlos Tavares was CEO of Stellantis till December 2024. He tried to usher the automaker and its manufacturers into the age of electrification, and did so by jettisoning V8s in fashionable merchandise such because the Ram 1500 and Dodge’s muscle automobiles, changing them with smaller gasoline engines and electrical choices. Two totally electrical fashions had been additionally launched on his watch: the Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona.
Sadly, Tavares was late to the electrification recreation, and his efforts coincided with a market correction that hampered enthusiasm for EVs. Minus the very talked-about Jeep 4Xe PHEVs, his efforts failed, and he resigned.
His substitute, Anthony Filosa, is swinging the pendulum onerous again the opposite means, reintroducing the V-8 to the Ram 1500, killing the model’s electrical truck mission, and trimming different EV lineups. It is not shocking, then, that the Jeep Gladiator 4Xe would fall to the sword beneath Filosa’s watch.
The federal authorities’s tax incentive can also be ending on September 30. The motivation is value as much as $7,500 when buying a brand new electrical car that qualifies. Whereas Jeep’s 4Xe fashions do not qualify for the $7,500 credit score when buying them, they do qualify while you lease as an alternative of purchase. With out that carrot, Stellantis could also be getting ready for gross sales of its 4Xe fashions to fall and does not see the logic in launching a 3rd one on the similar time.
Jeep Gladiator Gross sales
- 2019: Launch 12 months
- 2020: 77,541 items bought
- 2021: 89,712 items bought
- 2022: 77,855 items bought
- 2023: 55,187 items bought
- 2024: 42,125 items bought.
Lastly, the Gladiator just isn’t a sizzling vendor. It was launched in 2019 and noticed its greatest 12 months of gross sales in 2021 when 98,712 items discovered houses. Since then, Gladiator gross sales have fallen every year. Final 12 months, they had been lower than half of 2021’s peak gross sales at simply 42,125 items bought. Maybe Stellantis does not see a future for the Gladiator and opted to not make investments extra money in a plug-in hybrid model.
TopSpeed’s Take
The one factor that bugs us about Stellantis’s choice to axe the Gladiator 4Xe is that the automaker’s line of plug-in hybrid fashions is the one electrification effort that is labored for it. Plus, whereas the market has a slew of plug-in hybrid SUV choices, Jeep would have been the primary to promote a plug-in hybrid pickup truck. We perceive the numerous and quite a few explanation why Stellantis made this selection, however a few of them appear motivated by a need to forged off electrification as rapidly as potential to be able to retake the crown of combustion.
Jeep struck a stable vein of gross sales when it launched the Wrangler 4Xe and Grand Cherokee 4Xe, and a plug-in hybrid Gladiator 4Xe could have truly rejuvenated gross sales of the truck. Alas, we’ll by no means know. However hey, at the least the Gladiator will probably be round lengthy sufficient to get a 470-horsepower 6.4-liter V8.
