Jeep says its new Wagoneer S electric SUV can rival Tesla’s Model Y to charge up sales
Jeep has high hopes for its first 100% electric SUV in the US. The rugged SUV brand is preparing to reverse slumping sales with new EVs that Jeep believes can compete with the best. Jeep’s CEO, Antonio Filosa, believes the Wagoneer S electric SUV can take market share from Tesla’s best-selling Model Y.
After its sales in the US quadrupled, reaching nearly 1 million in 2018, Jeep has struggled to gain traction.
Jeep sales have been in a downward spiral over the past five years as the brand struggles to find its identity in a rapidly transitioning US market.
Filosa, who took over as Jeep CEO last November, believes the brand can turn things around. “We are building a road map for growth, both in volume and in profitability,” Filosa told Automotive News.
Jeep’s leader says the brand can finally reach 1 million sales in the US and 2 million globally. Filosa said much of the brand’s sales slump is due to a lack of models in important SUV segments.
After failing to update the Cherokee, the brand ended production of the mid-size SUV last year. Jeep also retired its cheapest vehicle, the Renegade, after becoming the brand’s worst-selling model.
After admitting more needed to be done to fend off the competition, Jeep’s CEO slashed prices earlier this year, including up $4,000 off its best-selling Grand Cherokee.
With sales falling below 643,000 last year, Jeep plans to turn things around with its first fully electric vehicles hitting the market.
Can Jeep’s electric SUV keep up with the Tesla Model Y?
“We will have better market coverage starting from the end of the year with the launch of the Wagoneer S and Recon,” Filosa explained.
Jeep is launching its first fully electric vehicles in the US this year as it looks to revamp the brand and turn around falling sales.
The first, due to begin production this quarter, is the premium Wagoneer S. Jeep has been teasing the electric SUV leading up to its debut later this year, revealing a new reimagined seven-slot grille and sleek design.
Based on Stellantis’ STLA platform with 600 hp, the electric SUV is “lightning fast” with a 0 to 60 mph sprint in 3.5 seconds.
Filosa believes Jeep can compete with Tesla in the electric SUV segment, attracting customers who “want something more sophisticated.”
Jeep’s new CEO sees the brand’s first EV attracting younger, high-earners like Tesla. “It’s a very iconic product that needs to fight against other competitors that in the US and elsewhere are doing well,” Filosa said.
“I’m sincerely very optimistic on the impact it has when you see it in the flesh. We showed it to our Italian dealers, and they were stunned,” he added.
Jeep’s second EV will be the Wrangler-inspired Recon, which is expected to launch by the end of the year.
We’ve already seen what the Recon Moab 4xe looks like after images leaked out of a Las Vegas dealer event.
With options like removable doors and windows, Jeep looks to stay true to the brand’s roots. “We have to leverage a huge community of happy Wrangler owners and explain to them that the Recon — even if electric — is consistent with our values and capability.”
Jeep’s previous head of North American operations, Jim Morrison, claimed the Recon has the capability to cross the mighty Rubicon Trail.” More importantly, it can “reach the end of the trail with enough range to drive back to town and recharge.”
According to the recent UAW agreements, Jeep is expected to launch an electric Wrangler in 2028. Around 2027, Jeep plans to launch an electric option for its best-selling Grand Cherokee.
Electrek’s Take
Since Tesla’s Model Y became the best-selling vehicle (gas or EV) in Q1 2023, it’s natural for brands to aim for the EV leader.
Jeep is already behind in the US electric vehicle market, but the brand believes it can turn things around with two new models hitting the market in key segments.
With new electric SUVs like the Chevy Blazer EV, Equinox EV, Honda Prologue, and others hitting the market, Jeep will need to get moving. Meanwhile, Rivian’s all-electric R1S, another Jeep rival, became the fourth best-selling electric vehicle overall in the first three months of the year According to Kelley Blue Book data, the R1S accounted for 2.9% of the US EV market in Q1.
The brand hopes its electric models will resonate with customers as it seeks to revamp sales in the US and globally.
What do you guys think? How will Jeep’s first electric SUVs compare to Tesla? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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A new report states that Tesla will pause part of new Model Y production at Gigafactory Shanghai for 3 weeks to upgrade the lines.
The shutdown will extend beyond the regular Chinese New Year.
The Chinese New Year is technically 2 weeks long, but the official holiday lasts a week, during which significant parts of the country’s industries shut down.
That includes the auto industry and Tesla, but it looks like the American automaker plans to do things a bit differently this year after having just started production of its updated Model Y at Gigafactory Shanghai.
According to a new report from Bloomberg, Tesla plans to shut down part of its new Model Y production lines from around January 22 to February 14.
In comparison, Tesla only plans to shut down production of the Model 3, the only other vehicle produced at the plant, from January 26 to February 3.
Tesla only recently started production of the updated version of its best-selling electric SUV. The report states that the automaker will take advantage of this extended Lunar New Year shutdown to upgrade parts of the production lines in order to streamline and ramp up production capacity.
The automaker delivered about 480,000 Model Ys in China in 2024 – up about 5% year-over-year.
Reports claimed that Tesla received over 50,000 orders for the updated vehicle version in the first 24 hours of the unveiling.
Electrek’s Take
It makes sense. Over the last few weeks, Tesla has basically been running a pilot of production of the upgraded version, which is entirely different from the previous version, but there are enough differences that new parts and processes can create bottlenecks.
Tesla likely found ways to optimize production during that time and now will implement it during this extended shutdown.
We will try to keep track of the Model Y production and rollout in China as any delay or production issues can be extremely impactful, considering the Model Y is the world’s best-selling EV and China is the biggest EV market.
Any kind of issue there can be extremely impactful on Tesla and the broader EV market.
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American Honda shared a business outlook for 2025 during a recent briefing with the media. In terms of electrification, the next 12 months for Honda will be much of the same: facelifting tried-and-true ICE models like the CR-V and Passport. However, there was one exciting piece of news from Honda on the BEV front—the automaker has confirmed it will begin US production of an Acura RSX EV.
Honda and its premium sub-brand Acura, for that matter, are getting more and more coverage on Electrek’s homepage thanks to the combined efforts in adding new BEV models… although that transition has still been relatively slow compared to other OEMs.
Nevertheless, Honda launched the all-electric Prologue, which has found quick success with US consumers. Shortly thereafter, Acura launched the ZDX, which sits atop the same Ultium platform as Prologue, provided through a partnership with GM.
Honda has since backed out of that partnership—at least the part where GM provides vehicle architecture—and has been developing its own in-house platform that will one day power its new 0 Series lineup of BEVs. These originally debuted at CES 2024 and remerged at this year’s event as prototypes—and now they’re white! They will also feature a new proprietary vehicle OS called ASIMO (more on that below).
While we await the arrival of those Honda BEVs, we can expect to see a new Acura model hit the market first, based on an SUV called the Performance EV Concept, which debuted at Monterey Car Week this past August. At the time, the Acura Design Studio described the concept as “the evolution of Acura’s performance-focused design direction and the brand’s next all-electric model.”
That new production model didn’t have a name yet, but we did learn it would be the first BEV to debut on Honda’s new bespoke platform and the first all-electric model to roll off its assembly lines at the new Honda EV Hub in Marysville, Ohio.
Today, we learned that the Performance EV Concept has evolved into a full-fledged passenger model with a familiar name – the Acura RSX EV.
Acura brings back the “RSX” nameplate as an EV SUV
During a media briefing earlier this week, American Honda shared its 2025 outlook, led by vice president of sales, Lance Woelfer. This year’s strategy includes the production of its first original BEV in Ohio using domestically and globally sourced parts as a new hybrid model and several ICE vehicles (boo).
Woelfer confirmed that the first bespoke all-electric model coming out of Ohio will be the Acura RSX EV. This move marks the return of a notable nameplate in the Acura lineup that evolved from the original Honda Integra. The Acura RSX was sold in North America from the early- to mid-2000s and still has a decent fanbase, especially amongst fans of the Honda Integra and Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) enthusiasts.
Acura revived the Integra nameplate in 2021 as a Honda Civic-based liftback, and although that model is sharp, it remains combustion, hence why Acura has revived the RSX name as an EV model. Per Mike Langel, assistant vice president, Acura National Sales.
The nameplate pays homage to the Acura RSX with its coupe-like silhouette, but it truly represents a forward-looking approach to fun-to-drive performance. Our second all-electric SUV will solidify our EV credentials even as its ICE stablemates, the all-new ADX, RDX, MDX, TLX and Integra continue to attract new buyers to the Acura brand.
The Acura RSX EV, seen in a unique camo wrap above, looks quite sleek, but I predict Integra and RSX purists may reject this new model out of the gate because it’s undeniably an SUV, not a sporty compact like the vehicle(s) it’s named after. This reminds me of when Ford introduced the Mustang Mach-E, and brand loyalists argued, “That’s not a Mustang.” Just like the Mach-E, the Acura RSX EV represents a new generation of performance models, no matter what you call it.
The new SUV also represents a massive step for Honda and its premium brand, as the Acura RSX EV will be the first model to utilize Honda’s new EV platform and its new ASIMO OS operating system introduced at CES 2025. At the time, Honda said ASIMO will constantly update its in-vehicle software via over-the-air (OTA) updates for both the digital UX and integrated dynamics controls that will allow the automaker to deliver “a personalized ownership experience that will enhance the joy of driving.”
Acura says the RSX EV is slotted to begin development testing in real-world conditions this week ahead of planned production in Ohio later this year. We plan to visit Honda’s EV Hub later this month, so perhaps we can capture some images of where this new SUV will be built or, better yet, look at the prototype up close.
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