Farewell, Jeep Renegade: small SUV quietly exits SA
The Jeep Renegade has been quietly discontinued in South Africa, though the company promises it has “some interesting new models” in the pipeline to fill the gap…
After 9 years on the local market, the Jeep Renegade has quietly coasted off into the sunset. Yes, Cars.co.za can confirm that this small SUV – which served as the entry point to the American brand’s local line-up – has been officially discontinued in South Africa.
We recently noticed that local sales of the Renegade had tapered off markedly, falling from 48 units in January 2024 to 31 units in February, then 30 units in March, a single unit in April and finally zero registrations in May. With the Renegade having also been removed from Jeep SA’s website, we asked parent company Stellantis SA to confirm the SUV’s fate.
“Jeep Renegade is currently on run-out in South Africa,” the company told Cars.co.za, though added that it planned to bring in “some interesting new models” in the future. When asked for details on these upcoming newcomers, Stellantis SA told us it would share more information at its next Jeep media event.
We already know that both the facelifted Wrangler SUV and Gladiator bakkie are scheduled to arrive in Mzansi at some point in the 2nd half of 2024, but we suspect Stellantis SA is referring to new products here.
As recently reported by The Citizen, the Commander (which is known as the Meridian in India, where it’s built) remains on the cards for South Africa, with the Avenger having seemingly been ruled out for now (despite being closer in size to the Renegade). There’s also the fully electric Recon, which might end up being produced in petrol form, too.
Incidentally, the local demise of the original Renegade comes just as Jeep’s global parent company Stellantis confirms a 2nd-generation model is scheduled to go into production from 2027. For the record, the Renegade was axed in North America at the end of 2023, though remains on sale in several other markets around the world. The newly announced 2nd-gen Renegade, though, is set to return to the North American market. No word yet on plans for South Africa, of course.
As a reminder, the Renegade range had comprised just a pair of front-driven derivatives before its local discontinuation, with the 1.4 Longitude 6AT having been priced from R510 900 and the 1.4 Limited 6AT from R560 900. Each was powered by a turbocharged 1.4-litre, 4-cylinder petrol motor delivering 103 kW and 230 Nm via a 6-speed automatic transmission.
Of course, other powertrains were available earlier in the Renegade’s 9-year local lifecycle (with this nameplate having launched in South Africa in May 2015), including a 2.4-litre all-wheel-drive arrangement as well as 1.6-litre engines in both petrol- and diesel flavours.
Browse our selection of used Jeep Renegade listings here!
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