JEEP COMPASS FULL ELECTRIC

Is this new SUV more than just a Peugeot 3008 wearing a suit of armour?

- ILLYA VERPRAET

Brand values can be cruel. If you're going to try to honour them, you had better do it faultlessly, lest the enthusiasts pour scorn over your latest product. A Mercedes that isn’t built like a nuclear bunker? Blasphemy! A Ferrari that isn’t the sharpest drive in its class? Humbug!

Yet abandoning them entirely while still selling the idea can work out remarkably well. BMW clearly has few regrets about making the 1 Series front-wheel drive and making a neatly styled miniature electric crossover with a single driven axle won Jeep a Car of the Year trophy for the Avenger. Its European sales skyrocketed.

The all-American off-road brand is ready to repeat the trick with the third generation of the Compass. Whereas the previous one was loosely based on a platform that traces its roots to the Fiat Grande Punto, the new one is a product of the 2020s Stellantis machine.

Take one not-so-American do-it-all platform (STLA Medium, in this case, as previously seen under the new-shape Peugeot 3008, Vauxhall Grandland and Citroën C5 Aircross), add some butch styling complete with a seven-slot grille and plenty of Willys Jeep-themed 'Easter eggs' and, hey presto, 2026 Car of the Year. Or at least that’s the theory.

Use of that platform means the Compass is being launched with two powertrains: an electric one with a 73.7kWh battery and a single 211bhp motor at the front and a hybrid (see opposite page).