Jetour is another of Chery’s sub-brands and a source has confirmed it will be setting up operations in South Africa in the near future!
Another Chinese brand is set to touch down in South Africa in the near future. A well-placed source has confirmed that Chery’s Jetour brand is confirmed for South Africa, although it’s not clear when we can expect retail operations to commence.
We can confirm that Chery Commercial Vehicle (Anhui) Co. Ltd submitted registration documents for Jetour back in 2022, and the trademark was officially registered in South Africa towards the end of April 2024.
We already know the brand is in the process of starting to build right-hand-drive vehicles with Jacky Chen, General Manager of Jetour’s international business telling the South China Morning Post that, “Right-hand drive cars will be the new growth engine for us in the coming three to five years.” Markets like South Africa, Malaysia, Australia have already seen huge sales from the Chinese brands. Mr Chen confirmed to the publication that the first right-hand drive products will have internal combustion power, followed by electric powertrains.
These comments suggest that South Africa may only receive new generation Jetour products, but we do have our eye on this, the T2. Positioned as a serious offroading SUV, the T2 offers up 220 mm of ground clearance, 39-degree approach and 30-degree departure angles.
It’s not a small vehicle either, at 4 785 mm long and has a wheelbase of 2 800 mm. Inside, it adopts a minimalist approach with a large infotainment screen. Power for the T2 comes from a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine which makes 186 kW and 390 Nm. Power goes to a sixth-generation BorgWarner all-wheel drive system via a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
We do wonder if the Chery portfolio is now too big and potentially overlapping with each other. As a reminder, Chery itself offers the Tiggo (4, 7, 8 and soon 9) SUV range, with Omoda’s C5 being joined by the C9, E5, C7 and newcomer offroad brand Jaecoo has the J7 (and soon J8 and J6). Chery is your middle-of-the-road SUV brand, Omoda is positioned as a youthful fashionable brand, and Jaecoo is your offroad adventurer product.
We will keep you updated as this story develops.
Further Reading
Confirmed! Jaecoo PHEVs for South Africa
