Author: EVAI

The FTC’s final rules will also cost dealerships about 21.8 percent less in total recurring costs than the proposed rules.

• Weighing in on states’ EV policies

• Jeep launches Wagoneer S

• GM’s ‘solid plan’ for plug-in hybrids

• Toyota, Mazda, Subaru unite on strategy

• U.S. lawsuit: Child labor at Hyundai

Jeep might have a $25,000 EV in the works. Kia and Hyundai confirm details for U.S.-made EVs. And which electrified powertrain does Jeep see as better for off-roading? This and more, here at Green Car Reports. 

At the reveal of the Jeep Wagoneer S electric SUV last week, executives confirmed that extended-range Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer 4xe versions are on the way, with large plug-in battery packs and packaging that manages to maintain their three-row layout. Given Jeep’s plans for mild hybrids, plug-in hybrids, EVs, and more, it leaves a great many build combinations—and based on executive comments about which kind of plug-in is better for which situation, it may be rolling these out in the wrong order. 

Separately, last week, the CEO of Stellantis, Jeep’s parent company, told media at an investor conference last week that a $25,000 Jeep EV is coming to the U.S. soon. 

And U.S.-made Hyundai and Kia EVs are coming to dealerships soon, with U.S. Kia EV9 production starting last week and Hyundai’s initial U.S.-made EV now confirmed as the Ioniq 5. But will they qualify for the full $7,500 EV tax credit?

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• Both Hyundai and Kia will build electric vehicles in the U.S.
• Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 will be assembled in its new factory near Savannah, Georgia.
• Kia has begun production of its EV9 crossover EV near West Point, Georgia.
• Federal tax credits have not been confirmed

Hyundai on Friday confirmed its first EV for U.S. production, while the automaker’s Kia brand began U.S. EV production that same day. But neither brand is discussing eligibility for the $7,500 federal tax credit quite yet.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 will be the first model produced at the automaker’s EV “Metaplant” near Savannah, Georgia, Jose Muñoz, CEO of Hyundai Motor North America, said in an interview with Automotive News. U.S. assembly is slated to start in October under a stepped-up U.S. EV timeline Hyundai announced last year.

Kia EV manufacturing in Georgia

“It absolutely is the bestseller,” Muñoz said of the decision to kick off U.S. EV production with the Ioniq 5. “So I think it is a no-brainer that it needs to be that one.”

Hyundai plans to ramp up to as many as 300,000 EVs (and battery packs) a year at the new Georgia plant, part of a $7.6 billion manufacturing complex that also includes a joint-venture battery plant run with LG Energy Solution. The opening of the battery plant will lag the assembly plant by about a year, Muñoz told Automotive News, adding that in the meantime Hyundai will source batteries from an SK On factory in Hungary.

2024 Kia EV9

The factory will eventually build six models across the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands, according to Automotive News. Hyundai confirmed in April that, despite initial plans to make this a dedicated EV plant, it would make hybrids too. Genesis, the luxury brand of the Hyundai Motor Group, is already building its Electrified GV70 electric SUV at another plant in Alabama as well.

While some Kia EVs will be made at the Metaplant, the Kia EV9 started production Friday at the automaker’s existing facility in West Point, Georgia.

EVs produced at either plant will be up against tighter rules regarding battery and battery raw material origins, so it’s unclear as of yet whether these initial models will qualify for the full $7,500.

“More details and specifics will come closer to production,” said Hyundai Motor America to Green Car Reports.

Kia did earlier last year anticipate last year that U.S.-built EV9s will qualify for the tax credit. But that was prior to federal guidance, issued in December, that started applying January 2024 and limited foreign content to an expanded list of “low-value” battery components. Green Car Reports has reached out to Kia for comment on whether they expect to qualify for the tax credit from the outset, in whole or in part, with these newly U.S.-made EVs.

A $25,000 Jeep EV is coming to the U.S. “very soon,” Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares told CNBC and other media at a Bernstein investor conference last week.

“If you ask me what is an affordable BEV, I would say 20,000 euros in Europe and $25,000 in the U.S.,” Tavares said at the conference, which was held prior to last week’s Wagoneer S debut. “So our job is to bring the safe, clean and affordable BEV to the U.S., $25,000. We’ll do it.”

Stellantis already sells the 20,000-euro Citroën e-C3 in Europe, Tavares, said, claiming the automaker is “using the same expertise” that brought that EV to market to match that pricing in a U.S.-market Jeep.

Jeep Avenger

Stellantis currently sells an all-electric version of the Jeep Avenger in Europe priced at 35,000 euros, or about $37,800, CNBC noted. Jeep has opted not to sell the Avenger, which is smaller than any of its current U.S.-market models, in this region. It’s also discussed selling more internal-combustion versions than originally planned in Europe.

Jeep has so far focused on plug-in hybrids in the U.S. The Wrangler 4xe has been the bestselling plug-in hybrid in the U.S., followed by the Grand Cherokee 4xe, Jeep CEO Antonio Filosa reiterated this week. And Jeep recently confirmed a 4xe plug-in hybrid Gladiator pickup.

The Wagoneer S EV will arrive with a base price of more than $70,000. It’s slated to be followed by the Wrangler-like Recon, which was initially announced as a pure EV but may reportedly also get a hybrid powertrain option.

2024 Jeep Wagoneer S

Tavares in late 2021 said that EVs cost the company 50% more than internal-combustion vehicles to make, calling it “beyond the limits” of what the industry can sustain because the added cost was too high to pass on to customers.

The threat of inexpensive Chinese-made EVs is becoming a reality in Europe now, and only trade policy is preventing it now in the U.S.—with the Biden administration recently raising tariffs.

At the reveal of its Jeep Wagoneer S electric SUV, the Stellantis SUV brand on Thursday confirmed plans to push ahead with what potentially might amount to a great many different electrified powertrain options across its lineup later in the decade. That includes extended-range EV versions of the Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer, which were confirmed…

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