2025 Jaecoo J7 SHS PHEV review

Not a week goes past without a new auto brand popping up in Australia – and that remarkable growth is matched by an equally explosive influx in technology, especially in the hybrid and electric vehicle segments.

We had the chance to sample one of the newest entrants, the Jaecoo J7 SHS plug-in hybrid, at a long-range driving event in South Africa, from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, ahead of an imminent Australian launch.

The idea was to evaluate whether the J7 SHS can actually achieve its claimed driving range of around 1200km on a single tank and single charge.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How much does the Jaecoo J7 cost?

Pricing for the plug-in hybrid Jaecoo J7 SHS hasn’t been announced yet for Australia, but our understanding is that it will start under $50,000 drive-away, which is remarkable value for money when you dive into the specifications.

It’s also unclear whether we’ll get a single variant or a two-specification model range for the Australian market, but as it stands the combustion-powered Jaecoo J7 range is well stacked regardless of which specification you choose.

Jaecoo is likely to stick with a higher trim level for the SHS given where it’ll sit in the range, so I’d wager the Track specification will be paired to the plug-in hybrid when it lands.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What is the Jaecoo J7 like on the inside?

The interior is probably the part that impressed me the most.

In South Africa, where we test drove this car, Jaecoo is setup slightly differently to the Australian market. Chery, being the parent company, comprises its own branch of models – vehicles such as the Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8.

You then step up to Omoda, which doesn’t carry Chery branding in South Africa. These vehicles are a step up again in terms of design and features. But Chery’s pinnacle brand is Jaecoo, which offers ‘lifestyle’ vehicles.

That transpires inside the cabin, where you could easily switch the badge on the steering wheel for branding from a German brand and be none the wiser.

I’m not trying to be flippant here either – go and sit in a modern Mercedes-Benz or Audi product that’s double the price of this J7 and try to find any parts of the interior that feel more premium.

It translates to things like soft-touch finishes across most surfaces, a large central infotainment display, a digital cluster ahead of the driver, acoustic glass, ambient lighting. The list goes on and it’s all stuff you wouldn’t normally expect to find in a sub-$50,000 car.

Given our 1200km drive spanned several days, we spent a fair bit of time in and around the infotainment system. The smartphone connectivity worked well without any lag and the only issue we encountered was one we’ve found in other Chinese market vehicles and that’s the need to manually exit smartphone mirroring to get access to vehicle settings and climate controls.

Yes, you can use voice controls, but it can become complicated when the car tries to use the phone’s smartphone mirroring voice control instead of the vehicle’s internal system.

It was great to see a cooling port for the wireless phone charging pad. It pumps out 50W of power, which will charge your phone faster that most other vehicles on the market. The cooling port redirects cold air over the back of the phone to prevent it overheating while charging – something that often happens on hotter days in cars without active cooling.

You’ll find a big centre console with an air-conditioning port and a mix of USB-A and C ports for charging devices.

In the second row there’s ample room for adults, along with a centre arm rest. Air vents are located at the back of the centre console and you’ll also find USB charging ports, along with electric seat adjustment controls for the front passenger seat.

From what we can tell, cargo capacity comes in at 500 litres with the second row in place and expands to 1265 litres with the second row folded. It’s unclear if that’s to the ceiling or to the top of the second row – either way, we were able to fit two medium-sized suitcases plus two carry on bags into the boot with no issue.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What’s under the bonnet?

Like most plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Jaecoo J7 SHS is powered by an internal combustion engine paired to a large electric motor to deliver extra torque.

Unlike other PHEVs on the market, the J7 SHS is front-wheel drive only. Jaecoo is working on an all-wheel drive version, but at this stage it’ll launch in Australia as a FWD-only proposition.

Combustion power is provided by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine. It offers a thermal efficiency of 44.5 per cent and produces peak outputs of 105kW of power and 215Nm of torque.

It’s mated to a ‘hybrid specific transmission’ (this is something we don’t have a great deal of technical information on) and an electric motor. The electric motor produces peak outputs of 150kW and 310Nm.

It all combines to offer peak outputs of 255kW and 525Nm; mated to an 18.3kWh battery that offers up to 106km of driving range (NEDC). With a 60-litre fuel tank, there’s a total combined driving range of 1300km (NEDC).

In terms of performance and economy figures, Jaecoo claims a 0-100km/h time of 8.5 seconds and combined fuel economy of 5.9L/100km when the battery is depleted. There’s also 3.3kW of vehicle-to-load (V2L) output available from the hybrid battery.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How does the Jaecoo J7 drive?

Most of our trip from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth was primarily on motorways, and also through the occasional small town, so our drive impressions are limited to that kind of terrain.

We’ve driven the front-wheel drive internal combustion J7 on Australian roads and while it performs well in terms of ride and handling, the dynamics of a larger and heavier vehicle will be different, so we’ll hold judgement until we get a chance to properly evaluate it locally.

With that said, what we can talk about is how smooth and quiet the J7 SHS is on the road. At highway speeds it’s almost dead silent inside the cabin. It appears that Jaecoo has put a decent amount of effort into sound deadening to ensure you don’t notice any sound intrusion.

Like most plug-in hybrids, the J7 SHS takes off with electric power, before using the combustion engine as a generator to create energy for the battery system.

Depending on the drive mode the vehicle is in, the J7 SHS is able to either run its initial journey entirely off the battery (for example, if you know your return journey is under the battery’s range, you can avoid needing to switch the combustion engine on and leave the charge cycle for when you return to your starting point or arrive at your destination), or use a hybrid approach where it can switch between the two depending on what is more efficient.

Also, depending on speed and throttle load, there are times when the vehicle will operate as a series hybrid (where the internal combustion engine acts purely as a generator for the electric system) or as a parallel hybrid (where the combustion engine works with the electric system to directly drive the front axle). The scenario that’s most efficient for any given speed and throttle load is automatically selected unless the vehicle is locked into electric-only mode.

Additionally, the vehicle features regenerative braking, which can use the vehicle’s momentum as an energy source to charge the battery. There are two modes it can switch between for the intensity of the regen.

On the acceleration front, the J7 SHS feels zippy and responsive, but there are some areas that could be improved.

The regen braking acts far too much like an on/off switch in its most aggressive setting. There’s no linearity like you’ll find in a typical electric vehicle. For example, when you roll out of the throttle it rather aggressively begins regen instead of gradually working its way to maximum deceleration for the hybrid system. This results in the brake lights going on and off constantly as you try and modulate deceleration.

Heavy acceleration can also be an issue for this front-wheel drive package. Sending over 200kW of power to the front axle of any car without rear drive is likely to be too much.

In this case it delivers noticeable torque steer, which the engineering team have tried to offset with fairly numb steering feel about centre. The lack of steering feel about centre help fight the torque steer, but it results in a fairly average steering feel when you’re not getting stuck into it.

The vehicle could definitely do with a less aggressive and more tapered throttle mapping under high throttle loads, which could then allow for better steering feel. We recently drove the J7 Track (front-wheel drive non-hybrid) and the steering feel was far better.

However, the vehicle soaks up long distance drives with ease. There’s little wind and tyre noise, which allows you to relax as you motor along.

Part of our drive route included gravel roads with severe corrugations due to heavy rain.

The vehicles were happy to move along these at both higher and lower speeds without any issues, so hopefully the suspension tune translates to a comfortable ride for Australian roads – something we’ll test when we get our hands on the J7 SHS PHEV locally.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

What do you get?

Two J7 variants have been detailed for Australia so far – the Core 2WD and Track 2WD – so you could expect the SHS PHEV’s specs to roughly align with them.

2025 Jaecoo J7 Core 2WD equipment highlights:

• 18-inch alloy wheels
• Space-saver spare wheel
• Automatic LED headlights
• Automatic high-beam
• LED daytime running lights (DRLs)
• LED tail-lights
• Power-folding side mirrors
• 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster
• 13.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system
• Wireless and wired Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• Satellite navigation
• Intelligent voice control
• 6-speaker sound system
• Leatherette upholstery
• ‘Premium’ steering wheel
• 6-way power-adjustable driver’s seat
• 4-way power-adjustable passenger seat
• Auto-locking (walk away)
• Remote start with air-conditioning temperature memory

Jaecoo J7 Track 2WD adds:

• Power tailgate
• Rain-sensing wipers
• Acoustic glass windscreen
• Heated front seats
• Illuminated vanity mirrors
• Customisable ambient lighting
• 8-speaker Sony-branded sound system
• Wireless phone charger
• Dual-zone climate control

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

Is the Jaecoo J7 safe?

The Jaecoo J7 is yet to be crash-tested by ANCAP or its sister organisation Euro NCAP, however, you could expect the J7 to get the same five-star ANCAP safety rating as other Chery models.

Standard safety equipment includes:

• 7 airbags
  • Driver, front passenger
  • Front side
  • Side curtain
  • Front centre
• Forward collision warning
• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
• Lane-keep assist
• Adaptive cruise control
• Integrated cruise assist
• Traffic jam assist
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Rear cross-traffic assist
• Reversing camera
• Rear parking sensors
• Speed limit recognition
• Driver monitoring system
• Tyre pressure monitor

J7 Track 2WD adds:

• Driver’s knee airbag
• Front parking sensors
• Surround-view cameras

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

How much does the Jaecoo J7 cost to run?

Jaecoo has yet to confirm servicing and warranty details for Australia, though we’d expect the Chery subsidiary to mirror its sister brand’s seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty coverage.

To see how the Jaecoo J7 lines up against the competition, check out our comparison tool

CarExpert’s Take on the Jaecoo J7

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering: did we make it? Yes – we clocked up over 1200km in our car with what was genuinely just regular driving.

There were some other media outlets at the event that drove at slow speeds to achieve better fuel economy, but we wanted to drive the vehicle just like anybody else would. Even then, we’re confident it would have hit 1300km without many issues.

That suggests this vehicle would be an exceptional option for people that have some form of charging infrastructure at home and drive short distances daily. If you’re prepared to charge each day, you could get away without needing to switch the combustion engine on until you go for a longer drive.

Then, for a longer drive, you’re really not paying a huge penalty for lugging around a large battery. Combined economy of around 5.9L/100km can be achieved with an empty battery, which is quite reasonable for the benefit you’ll have in charging the vehicle at home and not using any fuel during the balance of your journeys.

The interior, fit and finish and quality of the product is also excellent, so it represents incredible value for money. Where it is let down is the torque steer under hard throttle applications and steering feel, but those are both things that could easily be improved with software updates, so they don’t concern me too much.

This car is definitely worth a test drive and, if you don’t need the plug-in hybrid drivetrain, I’d suggest checking out the more affordable internal combustion options, which I was pretty impressed with.

Over in South Africa, Chery has just launched a model called the Omoda C9 PHEV, which offers almost 1000Nm of torque through a tri-motor plug-in hybrid setup, so there’s definitely exciting things to come for this set of brands in the not too distant future.

Interested in buying a Jaecoo J7? Get in touch with one of CarExpert’s trusted dealers here

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