Jaecoo begins local rollout with medium J7 light duties off-seal car.

JAECOO, the other half of a brand push out of China that already represents as Omoda, has begun its push into New Zealand with its J7 sports utility.

The new model represents across two trims, a flagship EX Plus in all-wheel-drive for $43,990 and a front-drive EX coming in for $5000 less to fulfil the distributor’s promise of getting the car into the $30,000 band.

Those prices preclude on-roads and are being reported as ‘introductory’ stickers, set to be reviewed at end of September.

Omoda and Jaecoo are new-to-New Zealand sister brands, but both belong to one with a past here, Chery.

Omoda produces road-tuned products and Jaecoo is designated as a sports utility specialist, with cars that have some off-road aptitude.

It likely has eyes on buyers who might otherwise be looking at a Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Honda ZR-V and even perhaps a Subaru Forester.

As previously reported, the J7 is closely related to the GT edition of the Omoda C5 car.

They are on the same underpinnings and the J7 uses the 147kW/290Nm 1.6-litre turbo petrol married to a seven-speed automatic, the higher level of two powertrains also employed by C5.

The launch pricing puts the J7 EX AWD $4000 above the flagship Omoda C5 GT car at regular recommended retail. The front-drive C5 GT holds the same $37,990 sticker as the J7 EX.

They patently differ in styling, with a sportier 'coupe-styled' look for the Omoda, a boxy design for the Jaecoo.

Standard equipment for EX J7 includes a 13.2-inch tablet-orientation touchscreen, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a 10.25-inch digital cluster, air-cooled wireless phone charging and eight-speaker audio. Highlights of the safety kit consideration are radar cruise control, lane-keep assist and autonomous emergency braking. J7 has yet to achieve a safety rating; C5 received five stars from the nationally-relevant ANCAP test.

C5 also represents in full electric E5, but going wholly battery-driven isn’t in the J7 strategy.

Instead Chery has created a 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid version, with 255kW/525N, an electric-only range of up to 88km and a claimed overall range of 1200kk, though whether an internationally-recognised test was used to achieve that distance is not made clear.

That variant (pictured) was revealed at the Beijing Auto Show in April and is being considered for introduction here.

Chery claims the J7’s PHEV powertrain boasts best-in-class thermal efficiency of 44.5 percent - most road legal car engines have thermal efficiency of between 20 and 40 percent - with real world fuel consumption of 4.9l/100km.

Unlike most other PHEVs, the J7 boasts DC fast charging and V2L capabilities that allow it to act as a power source for external electronics.

Jaecoo here also has eyes on a slightly larger SUV, the J8, which features a design similar to the J7, including retractable handles and an imposing front grille with vertical chrome slats.

It has a 1.5 TGDI petrol engine and two electric motors, one per axle, providing all-wheel drive, 447kW and 915Nm torque, with that arriving via a three-speed hybrid transmission.

Like C5, the J7 relies heavily on driver assistance programmes that has proved quirky.

The J7 has what Jaecoo calls an ‘innovative’ ARDIS - for ‘all road drive intelligent system’ - setup designed to provide intelligent and efficient driving control across various terrains.

Omoda and Jaecoo are the big international thrusts for Chery, which built 1.2 million cars last year and is China’s largest vehicle exporter, selling 450,000 in global markets.

Chery was directly active in NZ between 2011-2014 and specialised in low-priced vehicles, when cars were imported and distributed by Ateco Automotive.

The pitch did not go well and ended on the back of poor safety scores and, in Australia, an asbestos-related parts scare.

Omoda/Jaecoo is a wholly-owned subsidiary model and is keen to put that past well and truly behind it.