DETROIT – Jeep on Wednesday unveiled its first-ever Grand Cherokee plug-in hybrid because it makes an attempt to pivot its SUVs from fuel guzzlers to “inexperienced” automobiles.  

The brand new 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe has an estimated 25 miles of all-electric vary earlier than switching to a four-cylinder turbocharged engine to energy the automobile. It would full a brand new household of redesigned Grand Cherokee SUVs when it arrives in vendor showrooms early subsequent 12 months.

“The Jeep Grand Cherokee is our international flagship and shall be main the Jeep model into a brand new period of premium refinement, revolutionary expertise, superior 4×4 functionality and electrification,” Jeep CEO Christian Meunier mentioned in a press release.

A brand new three-row model of the Grand Cherokee went on sale earlier this 12 months. A conventional two-row mannequin providing V-6 and V-8 inner combustion engines is predicted to reach in U.S. showrooms within the fourth quarter. The entire new fifth-generation Grand Cherokee SUVs function a redesigned inside and exterior.

Jeep says the Grand Cherokee 4xe combines two electrical motors, a 400-volt battery pack and a 2.0-liter, four-cylinder turbocharged engine to supply 375 horsepower and 470 foot-pounds of torque. Its general driving vary is estimated at greater than 440 miles as soon as absolutely charged and full of fuel, with an EPA-expected score of 57 MPG-equivalent.

The 2022 Grand Cherokee 4xe would be the second plug-in hybrid electrical automobile for Jeep within the U.S. It would be a part of a Wrangler plug-in hybrid electrical that went on sale earlier this 12 months.

Pricing for the two-row 2022 Grand Cherokee, together with the 4xe, was not introduced. Beginning pricing for the three-row model ranges from about $39,000 to $65,000.

Jeep is predicted to be a key a part of progress and electrification plans for Stellantis, its new mother or father firm shaped earlier this 12 months via the merger of Fiat Chrysler and French automaker Groupe PSA. The corporate is investing at the least $35.5 billion (30 billion euros) in electrical automobiles and supporting applied sciences via 2025.

Meunier has mentioned each new Jeep will supply some type of electrification within the subsequent few years. These plans are anticipated to incorporate all-electric automobiles in addition to hybrid and PHEVs that mix electrification with inner combustion engines such because the Grand Cherokee and Wrangler 4xe fashions.

Jeep is predicted to supply its first all-electric automobile in 2023. Earlier this 12 months, it unveiled an all-electric idea model of its Wrangler SUV known as “Magneto.”