Jeep unveils 2022 Compass SUV

Automaker Jeep unveils its 2022 Compass ahead of its push into electric vehicles. The company is updating and redesigning the SUV with new technologies and interior.

Jeep unveiled the 2022 Compass on Wednesday at the Chicago Auto Show. The announcement of its unveil came barely a week after its parent company Stellantis said it would invest $35.5 billion into vehicle electrification. Executives of the company said the investment would cover an all-electric Jeep in every SUV segment.

Jeep’s parent company Stellantis was formed in a $52 billion merger between Fiat Chrysler and PSA Groupe in January. The company has 14 brands including Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot, Opel, Maserati, and Ram. 

The Jeep Compass is one of the brand’s smallest SUVs, however, the 2022 updated version will feature active emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, optional 10-inch interior screens, and a driver-assist highway system.

Jeep’s head of North America, Jim Morrison said the new features are added to make the vehicle look better and “even more desirable” in the growing competitive small SUV market.

“Our goal was to raise consumer expectations of what a compact SUC interior should look and feel like,” Chris Benjamin, Jeep’s North American director of interior design.

Jeep’s compact Compass SUV is the company’s best-selling vehicle globally. The Roll-out of the updated version will reportedly be in the fall in North America showrooms. The starting price will be $24,995, about $500 more than the old model.

The SUV is produced at the company’s plant in Mexico. It features a 2.4 liter, four-cylinder engine. Its fuel economy is 25 mpg combined, and up to 31 mpg on the highway.

The unveiling of the updated Jeep Compass comes ahead of the company’s plan to manufacture electric vehicles. The closest the company has to an EV is a plug-in hybrid of its Wrangler SUV only in the U.S. Jeep has also announced the unveiling of a PHEV for the Grand Cherokee in the second half of this year.

Jeep’s next rollout of vehicles will feature PHEVs, which combine plug-in battery technology with internal combustion engines, unlike EVs that run extensively on batteries and electric motors. The new Jeep electrified models are called “4xe” models.