Today’s Jeep Compass is the last affordable Jeep standing. The smaller Renegade was discontinued years ago, while the one-size-up Cherokee also went on hiatus after 2023—leaving a brutal hole in Jeep’s American lineup. After all, small and compact SUVs are where most of the sales action is these days, and the current Compass isn’t well equipped to cover the spread across the subcompact and compact classes until the new Cherokee returns. The Compass is painfully old and somewhat expensive compared to similarly sized subcompact SUVs, while notably smaller than the similarly priced compacts such as the Toyota RAV4 or Honda CR-V that Jeep’s MIA Cherokee should be competing against. But a new model is coming for 2026, and it’s already debuted overseas.
We can look to that model to see what to expect from the next-generation Compass expected to come to America in much the same form—though it’s scheduled to be built, for now, in Canada, a small bugaboo given President Trump’s tariff situation, and a key reason why this SUV is going to be delayed beyond its anticipated arrival later this year or early 2026.
It’s Got the Look, and It’s Moving Up
Today’s Compass traces its design back to 2016, so it’s not the freshest fruit in Jeep’s basket. The new model is much more interesting to behold, with more squared-off shoulders, bulgier fenders, a flatter roofline, and generally speaking a more Jeep-y appearance.
Also, because of the other models Jeep was selling back then (the smaller, truly subcompact Renegade, as well as the compact Cherokee), the Compass ended up as a sort of in-betweener, a stocking stuffer that Jeep hoped would capture even more buyers keen on a small SUV. This flood-the-zone strategy—fielding three SUVs across two size classes other automakers only competed in with two SUVs—might have made sense then, but with the small SUV class much larger and more competitive than it was almost a decade ago, the new 2026 Compass seems much more precisely positioned.
For starters, the new Compass is nearly as large as the previous-generation Cherokee—and much larger than the current Compass. At 179.1 inches in length, it’s just shy of 6 inches longer than the outgoing Compass and is within 3 inches or so of the old Cherokee. The 110.2-inch wheelbase is humongous, relatively speaking—nearly 4 inches longer than the Cherokee’s and almost 7 inches longer than the old Compass. Jeep says legroom in the rear seat, as a result, is up over 2 inches—a result we think is modest, but welcome. Overall width is up 1 inch, too, over the previous Compass and in between the two widths of the old Cherokee (off-road versions were wider).
These big new measurements hint that Jeep is looking to push the Compass up a class, to the compact arena where the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Chevrolet Equinox do battle. On paper, the 2026 Compass has the longest wheelbase of the three above—by far—though its overall length is slightly shorter.
This positioning would also help Jeep fulfill its longtime assertion, internally, that the Cherokee is a “midsize” SUV, provided it makes the next-generation Cherokee similarly larger so that it can push up into that territory by our classification. (That looks to be the case—the new Cherokee will share its STLA-Large platform with the all-electric Wagoneer S, while the new Compass rides on the smaller STLA-Medium architecture.) A bigger Compass also makes room for the potential return of the smaller Renegade as a true subcompact SUV—or perhaps the similarly sized Avenger sold globally.
Several Powertrains, But U.S. Availability a Mystery
So far, all we have to go on for what will power the new Compass is what Jeep has released for global markets—basically, for Europe, where Italy-built Compasses are already on sale. There, you can grab a Compass with a hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or one of several all-electric powertrains.
The hybrid Compass combines a 1.2-liter gas engine with a 21-kW electric motor and a 48-volt electrical system for a claimed 145 hp. Plug-in hybrid versions get this same engine—or appear to—along with a more powerful motor and bigger battery good enough for 195 hp combined.
Finally, Euro types can also select an all-electric Compass. Details are fuzzy, but it appears there will be a front-wheel-drive, single-motor variant good for 213 hp and 310 miles of range (presumably on the optimistic WLTP test cycle; EPA figures would be lower) with a 74 kWh battery. There also will be a more powerful, 375-hp dual-motor version as well. The battery sizing for those versions isn’t known—only the FWD model is listed on Jeep’s Italian website so far, for example—but Jeep says at least one version will be capable of up to 403 miles of range (again, highly optimistic), so it’s possible they get larger batteries. The EVs can reportedly DC fast charge at speeds of up to 160 kW, while the onboard AC charger is a stout 11 kW, with the option to upgrade to a 22-kW unit.
While it’s possible the EV version—at least one of them—could be offered here, it’s more likely at the outset that we’d get a plug-in hybrid as a “4xe” example in keeping with Jeep’s PHEV and EV branding stateside, as well as a mild-hybrid 48-volt version, both spun off the already stout, 200-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 Hurricane engine that powers the current Compass, rather than the weirdo 1.2-liter engine offered overseas. Also factor in more conventional transmissions; the Euro Compass utilizes six-speed dual-clutch automatics on the hybrids. Americans don’t love those, preferring instead conventional torque-converter automatics—again, likely carried over from today’s Compass.
Much Improved, More Modern Interior
Inside, the new Compass goes all-digital, with a 10-inch gauge cluster display and a huge 16-inch central touchscreen. Most of the buttonry is simple, with a red-colored drive Terrain mode selector switch, a rotary shift dial, and the electric parking brake switch standing out as the only major switchgear on the center console.
Everything else is clustered in the touchscreen, the steering wheel controls, or in a shortcut button (also touch-sensitive) in a row below the main display. There is, thankfully, a volume knob—and it’s usefully centered on the display, so that the passenger has easy access to it, as well. The absence of buttons and such is put to good use, with a full-width shelf bisecting the upper and lower dashboard elements, as well as a deep and wide covered center console tray that, we hope, integrates some cupholders under its sliding lid (which is closed in the photos here). Behind the shifter is a nicely exposed wireless phone charging pad.
While the overall design is pleasantly serious and purposeful, with nicely angular elements and chunky grab handles, there is some whimsy to be found: Just look at the classic Jeep grille motif molded into the steering wheel hub. Every time you drive a Compass, two big round headlights and seven grille slats will grin back at you.
Off-Roading Is a Question Mark
The only other major question hanging over the new Compass, besides its arrival in the U.S. and what will power it, is how capable it’ll be off-road. Today’s Compass is available in off-road Trailhawk form, the only “Trail-Rated” version you can buy. We anticipate that, if Jeep’s engineers can push the new Compass through as Trail Rated (at least in Trailhawk form), they will.
For now, though, we have only the specifications Jeep has provided for the seemingly mainstream hybrid and electric Compass variants. They’re not bad, but they’re also not quite a step forward for the Compass. At 7.9 inches, the quoted ground clearance is solid—but lower than the 8.1 to 8.6 inches offered by the old Compass. Similarly, the maximum 27-degree approach, 31-degree departure, and 16-degree breakover angles listed are okay, but lag behind the outgoing Compass Trailhawk’s 30.4 degrees, 34 degrees, and 23.6 degrees.
Likewise, the stats for the front-drive Compass models are even more modest, coming in at 20 degrees approach, 15 degrees breakover, and 26 degrees departure. The longer wheelbase probably has a lot to do with the markedly worse breakover stats, and we suspect a future Trailhawk would be raised high enough to improve that number a lot. On the plus side, water fording depth is surprisingly decent given the new Compass’s lower ride height, coming in at 16.0 inches for the hybrid and 18.5 inches for the EV; today’s Compass tops out at 19 inches of wading depth.
Jeep also says the all-wheel-drive EV gets a special rear motor with a 14:1 gear reduction that, the company’s press materials stipulate, equates to “an impressive 3,100 Nm [2,286 lb-ft] available at the rear wheels.” This torque-multiplying feature isn’t detailed—it isn’t clear whether this is a sort of low-range substitute that only operates off-road—but Jeep says it allows the electric Compass to climb a 20-percent grade even with no traction at the front tires.
When Will We Get It, and For How Much?
The European-market Compass is available to order now, with deliveries starting later this year. That, to us, suggests that the soonest the Compass might go on sale here—and that’s assuming Stellantis, Jeep’s parent company, can navigate the tariff environment with production planned for its Brampton, Canada, facility—is midway through 2026. We can only speculate as to the pricing, but today’s Compass starts just above $25,000; we expect the new-generation model to be priced slightly higher, especially if it indeed competes with the likes of Honda’s CR-V, Toyota’s RAV4, and other compact SUVs. A hybrid or all-electric version would cost even more, pushing the pricing into the $40,000 space.
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