The new Jaecoo 7, the first UK vehicle from the new ‘premium off-road’ brand, will arrive in in January, priced from £29,435 to take on rivals as broad as the Range Rover Evoque and Kia Sportage.
Created by Chinese car giant Chery, Jaecoo – a portmanteau of 'jäeger', the German word for hunter, and 'cool' – is a sister brand to Omoda, which was launched in the UK earlier this year.
While Omoda is focused on urban buyers seeking practicality, Jaecoo has a more upmarket and off-road focus. Affordability will be a key focus for both brands.
Chery's UK boss, Victor Zhang, said that Jaecoo offered “the best of traditional off-road and sport utility brands, mixed with cutting-edge technology and style”.
The 7 will be offered with petrol and plug-in hybrid powertrains. At 4500mm, it's slightly shorter than the Sportage, Hyundai Tucson and Volkswagen Tiguan and 100mm longer than the Omoda 5 with which it shares a platform.
The entry-level 7 will feature a 145bhp 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine driving the front wheels with 203lb ft of torque and an official economy of 37.7mpg.
A four-wheel-drive model with the same power unit will be priced from £32,850.
The 4WD plug-in hybrid range-topper combines a 1.5-litre turbo petrol four with an electric motor for total outputs of 201bhp and 229lb ft.
The motor draws power from an 18.3kW battery that gives the PHEV an electric-only range of 56 miles. Jaecoo claims a combined economy of 403mpg (47mpg with the battery depleted), which, with a 60-litre fuel tank, gives an overall range of 745 miles.
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