Stellantis debuted its fully electric compact commercial vehicle in Japan, hoping to capture an emerging market where foreign imports are slowly but surely taking over from domestic battery-powered vehicles.
The Jeep Avenger will start at ¥5.8 million ($40,000), Stellantis said Thursday at a media event in Tokyo. The car is also eligible for ¥650,000 in government subsidies.
In Japan, gasoline and hybrid gas-electric cars remain the dominant powertrains of choice for local consumers. It will take time for EVs, both from domestic and foreign automakers, to build a base.
Still, sales of imported EVs in 2023 surpassed those of domestically produced vehicles, according to data from the Automobile Inspection & Registration Information Association. Last year, sales totaled 22,800 such units, while those from manufacturers such as Toyota Motor, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor were around 21,000.
Toyota had previously pledged to sell 1.5 million battery electric vehicles annually by 2026, and 3.5 million by 2030.
But as automakers worldwide scale back their electric vehicle targets amid a slump in new car sales and a surge in the popularity of hybrids, the Japanese automaker followed suit and lowered its 2026 electric vehicle sales forecast to 1 million, the Nikkei reported earlier this month.
Chinese giant BYD is also making some headway in Japan, but slowly. Its flagship sedan, the Seal, was the country’s best-selling imported electric car in August, selling for ¥5.28 million. BYD sold 196 units in Japan in August.
