New Jaecoo J7 SUV: VW Tiguan-sized family car to cost less than £30,000

• New brand Jaecoo enters UK market
• Jaecoo J7 promises ‘affordable luxury’
• VW Tiguan-sized SUV with beefy off-road styling
• Available as a petrol or a plug-in hybrid
• Front or four-wheel drive available
• Costs less than £30,000, with PHEV starting just over £35,000

The second new car brand from Chinese automotive giant Chery has officially entered the UK. Following on from its sister company, Omoda, the new Jaecoo brand has revealed and announced pricing for its first model – the J7 SUV.

The J7 is a beefy-looking SUV with some premium features, but will cost from a wallet-friendly £29,435 for the 1.6-litre petrol model – around the same price as a Skoda Karoq, or the smaller Volkswagen T-Roc.

Jaecoo J7: design and styling

Unlike the fairly anonymous Omoda 5, which looked as though it had been built from the spare parts left over by other automotive styling departments, the J7 is a bit more eye-catching. The front is dominated by a large grille with vertical bars, flanked by slim LED daytime running lights and a stacked headlight arrangement lower down.

With a bluff front and clamshell bonnet, it’s clearly inspired by premium off-roaders such as the Range Rover, an impression that’s heightened by the Range Rover Velar-style light bar at the rear, as well as the pronounced shoulder line and retractable door handles which mimic the Range Rover Evoque.

While it may not be the most original design, it’s more cohesive than the Omoda 5, and looks quite smart – there are worse brands to be inspired by than Land Rover, after all. Plus, the big grille at the front is distinctive enough to mark the Jaecoo out from the crowd.

Jaecoo J7: interior and standard equipment

The interior is a little more distinct. The dashboard has a full-width fabric strip running across it, with the infotainment and driver information screens mounted proud of it rather than flush. They’re massive screens, too – 14.8 inches for the infotainment and a 10.3-inch instrument panel, plus a head-up display.

Physical switchgear is kept to an absolute minimum. There’s a gear selector and shortcut keys to the climate controls, demister and mute, plus a drive mode selector. The steering wheel controls look as though they’re touch-sensitive, but they’re actually proper buttons.

The boxy shape should provide plenty of practicality, and head- and leg-room in the rear is impressive. However, there’s only a 412-litre boot, which is less than you get in a Skoda Karoq or the smaller VW T-Roc.

Expect standard impressive equipment, a hallmark of Chinese car brands. The J7 will include those two massive screens as standard, LED headlights, a wireless charging pad, Sony sound system and rear-view camera, while top-spec models are likely to see a full-length panoramic sunroof, 360-degree camera system and more driver assistance kit.

Jaecoo J7: engines and performance

Two engines will be available for the J7. The entry-level model is a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, delivering 147hp and 275Nm of torque. This sounds like a slightly less powerful version of the one fitted to the Omoda 5, which isn’t really a good thing – we found that engine sluggish and thirsty, and its seven-speed gearbox pretty woeful. However, it does help contribute to the Jaecoo’s low starting price, and it’s the only one of the two engines available with all-wheel drive.

The J7’s off-road credentials are much-touted by Jaecoo. It can wade up to 600mm of water, and there are seven driving modes including Sand, Mud, Snow and Off-Road settings. Jaecoo also says its 4WD system can respond in less than 0.1 seconds, sending power to whichever wheel has the most grip.

It can scale steeper inclines than the Skoda Karoq Scout thanks to shorter overhangs at the front and rear, though don’t expect to be doing the sort of rock-crawling that would challenge a proper off-roader like a Land Rover Defender.

Much more interesting-sounding is the plug-in hybrid variant of the J7. It uses a large, 18.3kWh battery to provide an all-electric range of 56 miles. Total power output is 204hp, and Jaecoo says it’ll do a total of 745 miles on a full tank and full battery. Combined fuel economy is a barely-believable 403mpg, and CO2 emissions are 23g/km – though in real life those numbers are just wishful thinking. It does mean the J7 should be an interestingly affordable company car option, though.

Jaecoo J7: how much is it and when can I buy one?

The J7 costs from £29,435 for the petrol variant. The four-wheel drive petrol ups this to £32,850, while the PHEV comes in at £35,065. That’s cheap but not transformative – for example, fellow Chinese brand BYD will sell you a plug-in hybrid Seal U for just over £33,000, and an MG HS is even cheaper still, with a longer electric range.

The petrol variant, meanwhile, competes with some very talented alternatives – it’s almost exactly the same price as a base-spec Kia Sportage, for example, which is a very good car indeed. We’ll look forward to testing the Jaecoo J7 when it arrives in the UK – first customer deliveries are in January.

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