J7 will make its market unveiling, reportedly in April. Image: Omoda & Jaecoo
Ahead of its local market launch, reportedly set to take place in April, Chery-owned Jaecoo has released more details of the eagerly awaited J7.
Already present on local soil, with final testing concluded, the first Jaecoo model will be offered with either front-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive, and powered by the 1.6 T-GDI engine used in the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max and Tiggo 8 Pro.
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While sold in its home market under the Chery badge as the Tansuo 06, for South Africa, the J7 won’t be powered by the detuned version of the mentioned engine as it does in China where outputs are rated at 137kW/275Nm.
Instead, the local models will be privy to the same uprated unit powering the Tansuo 06, which means the same outputs as the mentioned Chery models of 145kW/290Nm.
Regardless of the drive wheels, the sole transmission option will be a seven-speed dual-clutch developed by in-house by Chery.
Set to be joined at a later stage by the plug-in hybrid J7 as well as the less rugged J8 towards the end of the year, the J7’s final trim level denominators remain open to speculation, though as part of the latest teaser info, Jaecoo has detailed more specification items the top-spec derivative will have as standard.
Already confirmed to be fitted with the bigger the 14.8-inch infotainment system, plus the 10.25-inch instrument cluster, Jaecoo has also approved the fitting of dual-zone climate, Adaptive Cruise Control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a surround-view camera system that uses artificial intelligence to provide a transparent frontal view when going off-road.
While sporting a permanent all-wheel-drive system minus low-range, the unibody J7 is expected to offer the same 200 mm ground clearance as in China, plus a drive mode selector with seven settings; Eco, Normal, Sport, Snow, Mud, Sand and Off-Road.
Still to be priced, the J7, and more that matter the six-seat only J8, will be sold alongside sister-brand Omoda from 40 already established dealerships as part of what Chery calls the O&J division.
A setup operating separately from the main Chery brand, the J7 is expected to be positioned between the Tiggo 7 Pro and Tiggo 8 Pro with a projected stitcker price of between R650 000 to R700 000.
As it stands though, the projection is purely speculative and will only affirmed either during the course of this month, or at the official premiere in April.
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