Chinese car brand Jaecoo has officially launched in the UK, with its first model now on sale in dealers.
Jaecoo is one of two new car brands from Chinese manufacturer Chery launching in the UK this year. The other is Omoda, which launched last year. The two brands will be distributed and sold jointly through a network of up to 130 dealerships across the country.
Unlike other new entrants in the UK car market, Omoda and Jaecoo are not going all-in on EV models just yet, and will be offering a range of petrol, hybrid and EV models. The goal is to help build short-term sales during the UK’s transition to electric power, and Chery has ambitious sales targets for both brands.
Read more: Who or what is Omoda?
Who are Jaecoo, Omoda and Chery?
Chery is one of China’s largest and oldest car manufacturers – although ‘old’ is a relative term, since the Chinese car industry is really only about 30 years old. It was founded in 1997, and builds nearly two million cars a year under its own name as well as other brand names it owns. It’s also China’s largest exporter of cars and has been for the last 20 years, accounting for about half of production.
Jaecoo and Omoda are two new brands owned by Chery, and are the company’s two main export brands – particularly for Europe and Russia. The cars that are going to make up the Jaecoo and Omoda families will be cherry-picked (Chery-picked? Sorry, I’ll get my coat…) from Chery’s extensive range of vehicles sold in China and other Asian markets under its own name or by one of its other brands (like Exeed, which we won’t be getting in Europe).
Jaecoo is intended to be a brand that emphasises premium practicality, while Omoda is intended to epitomise sportiness and fashion. At the London media launch this week, one Jaecoo executive described thusly: For Omoda, think “Shoreditch”, for Jaecoo, think “Wimbledon”.
For the foreseeable future, both will be offering a range of SUV/crossover vehicles of different sizes and with a choice of petrol, hybrid or electric power. There are currently no plans for hatchback/saloon/estate/sports car models, although these may come along later.
What does ‘Jaecoo’ mean?
Good question. Jaecoo is a made-up brand name (like Lexus or… Omoda), rather than the name of a company founder (like Ford or Ferrari) or an acronym (like Alfa or Fiat). It’s a portmanteau of the German word ‘Jaeger’, meaning ‘hunter’, and the English word ‘cool’. So it’s supposed to describe a cool hunter.
Where and when can I see a Jaecoo car?
Jaecoo has more than 70 dealers already signed up, with all sites co-branded with sister brand Omoda. The company’s official UK website has all the locations available.
The dealers already signed up include major groups like Arnold Clark, Listers and Endeavour, which all have multiple sites across the UK. Jaecoo’s goal is to get to 130 UK dealers by the end of 2025.
The company has no plans to offer direct sales at this time, unlike some other new brands like Tesla. It expects that about half of sales will be to fleets, so many people’s first contact with the brand will be through fleet purchases rather than dealer showrooms.
Omoda had its official UK launch in London last year and has had cars touring various major events all last summer. Now it’s Jaecoo’s turn, and a large marketing push is coming shortly to introduce both brands to millions of people across the UK.
Where does Jaecoo fit into the new car market?
Jaecoo is somewhat more premium-minded than its Omoda sister. If you look at the photos above of the Jaecoo 7, the first model offered in the UK, you’ll see various resemblances to the similarly sized Range Rover Evoque and Velar models.
Jaecoo claims that it will not be the cheapest brand in the marketplace, but that it will offer customers more for their money than they get from existing brands.
What that means is that pricing will be comparable to brands like Hyundai and Kia, but the company is benchmarking premium brands like Land Rover for equipment and quality. Customers can expect to see advanced technology – including safety technology – at price points well below European rivals.
What models will Jaecoo be selling?
Jaecoo’s UK operation will commence with a mid-sized crossover vehicle called the Jaecoo 7. It’s available in petrol or plug-in hybrid forms. Size-wise, it’s about 4.5m long, which puts it roughly halfway between a Range Rover Evoque and a Range Rover Velar.
This model has already been on sale in China and some other international markets for a couple of years, where it’s usually called a Chery Tansuo 06.
The Jaecoo 7 is available the UK in petrol form, with either front-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, or as a plug-in hybrid (which Jaecoo refers to as its Super Hybrid System) in all-wheel drive. Prices start at about £29K for the petrol model in front-wheel drive and run to £35K for the top-spec plug-in hybrid model. However, once you factor in the level of standard equipment included, it’s thousands of pounds cheaper than an equivalent model from the likes of Land Rover or BMW.
The petrol and plug-in hybrid models look identical from the outside, but are quite different inside. We’ll have a more detailed look at this in our upcoming review of the Jaecoo 7 this week.
By the end of the year, we should see the smaller Jaecoo 5 reaching UK showrooms, while there’s also a larger Jaecoo 9 model on the way. As yet, we have no details at all on these vehicles, other than the fact that they will be SUV-style vehicles rather than any other kind of car. In China and some other markets, there are additional models available but these are not likely to reach the UK.
Jaecoo says that all of its models are designed to be built as petrol, hybrid or electric cars, so it can react quickly to market demand for any fuel type. Don’t be expecting any diesels, however.
What else should I know about Jaecoo before making a buying decision?
Following the Omoda launch last year, the company is planning to hit the ground running with Jaecoo.
All models will come with a seven-year/100,000-mile new car warranty, which is one of the best in the industry. To address concerns of parts shortages that are affecting serving and repairs for some other new brands, especially with EVs, Jaecoo has put in place a logistics partnership with DHL that promises next-day delivery of parts anywhere in the UK.
The company has a finance partnership in place with BNP Paribas and a leasing partnership with Arval UK to provide PCP and PCH offers for consumers.
Jaecoo has big ambitions for the UK
Although it only has one model from each of its two new brands on sale to start with, Chery still expects to sell 35,000 new cars in 2025. After that, it wants to build up to up to 50,000 cars by 2027. That would put it in the top 20 car brands for UK sales based on last year’s sales figures.
The company expects that about half of Jaecoo sales will be to fleets, which is not surprising. It also expects that about 80% of Jaecoo 7 sales will be for the plug-in hybrid version.
Should I be concerned about buying a Chinese car?
Understandably, many car buyers are hesitant when it comes to spending many thousands of pounds on a new car from a brand-new Chinese brand, for several reasons.
Chinese cars tend to be perceived as cheap and of poor quality compared to European vehicles. The first of those two perceptions is quite accurate, since Chinese-brand vehicles (including MG, which has retained little more than the MG name and logo from the Rover days) are almost always sold more cheaply than cars from European or Japanese or Korean brands.
The second perception is not necessarily true at all, and changing rapidly. Most new Chinese cars on sale now or on their way to the UK this year have scored excellent safety ratings – including the Omoda 5 and E5, and all of BYD’s models sold in the UK. Reliability from brands like MG has been comparable to mainstream European brands, and Omoda and Jaecoo are unlikely to be any different.
Chery has a technical centre in Frankfurt which works on adapting new models from both brands to suit European roads and customers. The Jaecoo 7 has been on sale in other markets for more than two years already, so the company will have hopefully ironed out any new-model bugs. There have also been teams of people evaluating the Jaecoo 7 and the upcoming Omoda 9 in the UK over recent months to finalise UK specifications and vehicle settings.
All Jaecoo and Omoda models will come with a seven-year/100,000-mile new car warranty, which gives reassurance to customers, and the company is intent on making sure that any part is available to any dealer in the UK on a next-day basis – including complete EV battery packs.
With 70-odd dealers already selling Omoda and Jaecoo, and another 60 expected by the end of this year, you’re likely to be well within range of a service centre anywhere in the UK if you have any problems. Based on the company’s bold sales targets, you’re likely to start seeing Jaecoo 7 models on a street near you very soon.
If the company hits those targets, it will have 100,000 Jaecoos and Omodas on UK roads in about three years’ time. Chery claims that it’s here for the long haul with both brands, and the company certainly has the resources to support its European expansion.
What about tariffs on Chinese cars?
The EU has started applying import tariffs to Chinese-built cars, with allegations that China is subsidising its car manufacturers to undercut the European car industry in an unfair manner. The UK government, however, has not shown any interest in following suit at this time.
It’s entirely possible that additional tax could be levied on cars built in China in coming years. However, this will affect a lot of companies, not just Chinese brands like Omoda and Jaecoo. Many companies now build cars in China, so any additional tariffs could catch out European brands as well.
Even if Westminster moved with unusual haste, it’s unlikely to get anything done this year. So any pricing advantages that brands like Jaecoo have is likely to last for the foreseeable future, and it’s entirely possible that there’ll end up being no additional taxing on Chinese-built cars anyway.
