Volkswagen Group Africa sets new monthly production record
In the latest of a series of milestone achievements, Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA) has set a new record for the number of vehicles built in one month.
- Industry News
- 20 August 2026
Another mid-sized, fully electric SUV that made its debut at the Paris Motor Show recently, was the Jeep Avenger from the Stellantis Group.
The Avenger is the first Jeep properly designed and engineered by Europe, for Europe. The company calls it a “game changer” for the brand and being a small electric SUV, it is certainly on-trend and without plenty of the baggage of the models before it in terms emissions.
As the first fully designed electric vehicle from the brand, it boasts a 400V electric motor driving the front wheels with 116 kW and 260 Nm torque. A 54 kWh battery powers the electric SUV, meaning it has roughly a range of 402 km, or 545 km miles when used in urban settings, according to Jeep.
It’ll take you three minutes to get about 18 miles of range when using DC fast chargers, which will also get you from 20 to 80 percent charged on the Avenger in 24 minutes. When using the less powerful AC charging, it’ll take you 5.5 hours to fully charge the Avenger. Jeep claims that Europeans only drive around 18 miles a day, meaning they likely will not have to charge the Avenger that often.
The front-wheel drive SUV has 18-inch wheels, a 10.25-inch infotainment system, and level two autonomous driving. The Avenger will have some typical Jeep features like Hill Descent Control and Selec-Terrain where you can choose from six modes of driving to match driving conditions. To make it more off-road ready, the Avenger has 20-centimetre ground clearance, 20-degree approach angle and a 32-degree departure angle.
The Jeep Avenger could hit the roads in Europe and hopefully South Africa by 2024 although no official time-frame has been mentioned.
Three months after launching its off-grid, solar-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging network on the N3 corridor, Zero Carbon Charge (CHARGE) has confirmed plans to double charging capacity at both Charge hubs.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have introduced a whole new vocabulary into motoring. Instead of simply talking about litres of fuel, cylinders and kilometres per tank, motorists are now confronted with kW, kWh, AC, DC, WLTP, regenerative braking and a host of other terms.
Zero Carbon Charge (CHARGE), which is building a national network of off grid, ultra-fast EV charging stations powered by renewable energy, has welcomed the latest new energy vehicle (NEV) sales figures, saying they confirm a trend it has tracked for several years.