You can still buy a gas-only Jeep Wrangler in Pennsylvania. But you can’t walk into a dealership unannounced there and drive home in a brand-new gas-only Wrangler. You’ll need to place an order.
Dealers only have the Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid (PHEV) model in stock.
PHEVs use electricity to travel a particular distance, then use gasoline to go farther. The Wrangler 4xe can run for about 20 miles on battery power alone and offers more horsepower than most gas-powered Wrangler models.
The situation is reversed in Texas. There, you’ll find plenty of gas-only Wrangler models in dealer stock. The popular PHEV off-roader is a custom-order model.
Why? According to the industry publication Automotive News, it results from a strategic decision by Jeep’s parent company, Stellantis.
14 States Have Their Own Emissions Requirements
Most states follow emissions guidelines set by the federal government. But 14 states and the District of Columbia follow a more stringent set of emissions rules set by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Stellantis, Automotive News says, “has stopped shipping internal combustion models to dealerships in those 14 states unless customers have ordered them. Meanwhile, dealers in non-CARB states can no longer get the Wrangler 4xe and other plug-ins without a customer order.”
The 14 CARB states are California (you guessed that one), Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Four more states — Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, and Virginia — have announced plans to join the consortium in the future.
Some Automakers Use a Different Calculation
CARB rules don’t require manufacturers to sell a set percentage of zero-emissions vehicles until 2026. Several automakers, including Ford, BMW, and Volkswagen, negotiated an agreement with the CARB states that allows them to “meet the standards with their nationwide average,” AN says.
But Stellantis, which owns Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, and Ram, was formed in a 2021 merger — too late to join that agreement.
So, Stellantis said in a statement, “We may need to adjust vehicle allocations among the California and federal states to ensure that Stellantis complies with different standards in the California states.”
This means sending PHEVs to CARB states and gas-powered models to non-CARB states. Buyers, however, can still order the other version delivered to their local dealership.
