Jeep has cut the price of the electric Avenger by £3750 following the introduction of the government’s Electric Car Grant (ECG), for which it has yet to qualify.
The discount has been applied to all trim levels of the EV, meaning its price now ranges from £26,249 for the entry-level Longitude model to £30,249 for a range-topping Summit.
Jeep will also make a £1500 deposit contribution toward financing on the Avenger Summit when a buyer chooses a 0% APR contract, which requires a 20% down payment. This results in a monthly payment of £270 for the model.
The discounts and finance contributions will be available until 30 September.
Jeep is the latest in a line of manufacturers who do not yet qualify for the ECG but have introduced their own discount. Chinese brand Leapmotor moved first, cutting prices by £3750 to match the maximum discount provided by the grant, and it was soon followed by Alfa Romeo, MG and GWM, among others.
The criteria for electric cars to receive the grant are based on minimum sustainability criteria, including the manufacturer being signed up to the Science-Based Targets initiative for carbon emissions reduction. For those that qualify, the grant provides either £3750 or £1500 based on the emissions created by the production of the car and its battery.
Only two models currently qualify for the full £3750 grant: the Ford Puma Gen-E and the related Ford E-Tourneo Courier. A further 26 cars receive a £1500 discount.
Several manufacturers that have yet to be included in the scheme have hit out against its perceived preferential treatment of European manufacturers.
Stella Li, chief of the European arm of Chinese manufacturer BYD, recently told Autocar that it was “not fair to consumers” because of its effective exclusion of Chinese brands.
“They did that more to target Chinese firms, which is not fair to consumers," she said. "But we have to deal with that. We are not afraid, because I'm sure our sales numbers will continue increasing every single month.”
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Does this mean unsold ICE versions won't sell so well?
Which just shows what a BS scheme this ECG is.
Good to see (sarcasm here) the Turkish made Courier get the full UK taxpayer provided grant of 4k, no wonder they moved car and van production out of the UK.
It is a bit of a farce. The reason that and the Puma (built in Romania) gets the full grant is because the drive unit is made in the UK. But like you highlight, that's not where the car is built. So we import parts into the UK to make the drive unit, then ship that thousands of miles away where the actual car is assembled then the car is shipped thousands of miles to the UK.
Meanwhile a car like the new R5 is made almost entirely from parts within 300km radius of the factory, and it is obviously only then a short hop to the UK - yet it only gets the lower band.
Labour claim it is about giving the greenest cars the biggest discount - complete nonsense. The Fords production is not greener overall.
The Courier used to be made in Turkey but is now built in Craiova Romania along with the Puma