Stellantis is making a big play for South Africa’s fiercely competitive 4×4 market with two different brands – Jeep and Peugeot.
The automotive group is restructuring its family of carmakers to ensure it has an answer for every segment, with Citroen catering to the sub-R400,000 market while Opel provides mid-range passenger models like the new Corsa, Frontera, and Grandland.
Jeep and Peugeot, meanwhile, are taking aim at the country’s beloved off-road segment, with the former concentrating on high-end SUVs while the latter is betting on a bakkie to compete with the industry’s titans.
I recently had the opportunity to sample a selection of vehicles from these two nameplates at a Stellantis media event at the Gerotek testing facility in Gauteng to see how they perform when the going gets tough.
New challengers in the arena
Following an event where we got to take a number of Stellantis cars around the Gerotek handling track, we were carted off to the 4×4 testing area, which involved a short loop around a tricky dirt track.
The loop involved steep rocky slopes at an angle where you need to turn right as you ascend before swiveling back left for the descent as you crest the hill, before going onto a bumpy path leading to another hill.
The track also has a slightly longer stretch on a rocky dirt path before plunging into a lower area filled with wet mud, which then leads to the final obstacle with an uphill path littered with uneven rocks that will have one side of the vehicle raised significantly higher than the other as you climb.
The rotation of models on hand included the Peugeot Landtrek 4×4 double cab, the Jeep Wrangler, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee, which the group took turns driving around the course.
The Peugeot in particular is a very interesting vehicle, as it is what Stellantis has elected to produce at its new local factory in the Eastern Cape, which is starting construction this year with the first units expected to roll off the assembly line by 2026.
This means the Landtrek will be South Africa’s fifth locally-made bakkie, joining the ranks alongside the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-Max, and Nissan Navara.
These four badges are some of the best-selling cars in the country, so the Peugeot has its work cut out for it if it wants to become a big player in the segment because up till now its sales have usually been confined to double digits while the other four sell in the hundreds and thousands.
With that in mind, the Landtrek performed rather well on the course, as it took to every obstacle without much issue.
It has a 1.9-litre, turbo-diesel engine with 110kW and 350Nm just like the D-Max, but it feels more powerful in the low range and it pushed its way up the hills with ease.
The suspension is relatively firm, but the ride comfort was alright in both the front and the back, and I’d say it’s on par with the Hilux but not the Ranger.
It’s a similar story with the cabin, which feels more premium than the current-gen Hilux, which is starting to show its age, but below the Ranger, which is currently leading the pack on upmarket bakkies.
This makes a lot of sense in context. Stellantis said that it plans to have the Landtrek compete as a value proposition, so its reminiscence of a more affordable version of the Ford Rangers is unlikely to be a coincidence.
Moving on to the Jeeps, the Grand Cherokee immediately stole the show with its interior being leagues ahead of everything else we’d seen, not that this is a surprise given its R1,384,900 starting price.
This was by far the most comfortable of the three cars, especially when sitting in the back, but it actually struggled the most on the course trying to turn and get up the rocky inclines.
In fairness, the track was very narrow and it still managed to get up just fine, but it serves as an indication that massive 4x4s are not always the best in every off-road situation.
The 4.9-metre long vehicle has a wheelbase measuring 2,964mm, and when it comes to tacking rocky terrain, shorter wheelbases are sometimes more ideal as there’s less chance of grounding out.
The Cherokee is undoubtedly a very capable car and is definitely the one you want to be in as a passenger, but driving it requires a bit more forethought before charging into the unknown, and this is something that applies to other big SUVs as well, not just the Jeep.
The final entry of the day, the Jeep Wrangler, was the best of the bunch, as it struck a balance between the Landtrek and the Grand Cherokee in terms of size, comfort, and capability.
It tackled the terrain like a mountain goat, and while its interior is not as refined as the Cherokee’s, it still feels like a premium set of wheels.
It’s the car I’d choose out of the three, but the experience has certainly got me interested to see what else Stellantis has in store for our bundu-bashing market.
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