- Jeep hasn’t announced pricing for the 2023 Renegade, but we expect prices to start around $30,000.
- That seems like a drastic price increase, but only because Jeep will eliminate a slow-selling base trim.
There’s an emerging trend in the automotive industry, and it’s reached the entry point of the Jeep lineup. The boxy, pug-cute little Jeep Renegade has lost its base trim.
It may be a consequence of the ongoing global microchip shortage, with automakers triaging their lineups to use the chips they can get as efficiently as possible. It may also be a function of America’s tastes — some of the blame for soaring new car prices falls on buyers’ preferences as we keep buying fancier cars. Luxury vehicles make up a bigger percentage of the cars we buy today, and base models with limited content are disappearing from showrooms.
But, whatever the cause, many affordable vehicles are dropping their most affordable forms for the 2023 model year. Jeep’s little runabout is the latest. Its Sport trim is disappearing for 2023.
That will probably create the illusion of a huge price increase. Jeep hasn’t released pricing for the 2023 model year. But, for 2022, the Renegade Sport starts at $24,695 (plus a $1,595 destination charge). The next step up, the Latitude, starts at $29,145. If 2023 pricing goes unchanged, dropping the Sport will mean over a $4,000 increase in the base price.
Other changes for 2023 are modest. Jeep introduces a new Latitude Premium Group that adds an 8-way power driver’s seat, heated front seats, cornering fog lights, and a heated steering wheel to the new base trim. A step up the trim ladder, the Renegade Limited adds adaptive cruise control. A new Limited Elite Group adds full LED exterior lights, automatic high beams, and parking sensors.
The Renegade Trailhawk, which our test driver said makes the Renegade “among the best off-roaders in its class,” gets its own Elite Group options package, adding leather trim, seat heaters, and a heated steering wheel.
The Renegade also gets in on the other major automotive trend of recent years — a blacked-out package. Called High Altitude, it gets gloss black badges and 19-inch wheels painted a dark grey shade Jeep calls Granite Crystal.
We’ll bring pricing when we have it.
