BYD Sealion 6 under threat! Chinese rival Jaecoo J7 PHEV confirmed for March 2025 launch in Australia

December 6, 2024December 6, 2024 Bruce Newton 13136 Views 0 Comments J7, Jaecoo

Watch out BYD Sealion 6, there’s a Chinese plug-in hybrid rival coming in March 2025 intending to capitalise on your success.

It’s called the Jaecoo J7 PHEV SHS and it will be part of the export-focussed subsidiary of Chery’s Australian launch line-up in March 2025.

And Jaecoo is talking a big game for the J7, claiming it can cover 90km on electricity alone (based on WLTP testing) and a combined 1200km (its own estimate) once the petrol engine is in play.

That compares to the 92km and 1100km the BYD Sealion 2WD 6 claims, while the only other medium PHEV, the Mitsubishi Outlander claims 55km and 1000km.

Jaecoo had been expected to launch turbo-petrol 2WD and AWD versions of the J7 first, while the PHEV had not yet been confirmed.

But the confirmation of the PHEV and its acceleration to been part of the launch line-up seems likely to have been encouraged by the success of the Sealion 6, which has sold more than 5000 examples since its April 2024 launch.

The Sealion 6 has played a huge role in doubling the sales of PHEVs in Australia to just over 20,000 year-on-year to the end of November.

That’s coming off a low base and driven to some extent by the FBT exemption for PHEVs that is currently scheduled to end April 1, 2025.

But there is plenty of evidence auto brands in Australia are swinging towards PHEVs to help them meet the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) that is introduced from January 1.

The question will be what price Jaecoo launches the J7 at. That info and specification won’t be announced until closer to the launch.

But the Sealion 6 is priced from $47,900 plus on-road costs and the Outlander PHEV from $57,290 plus on-road costs.

If Jaecoo really wants to aim high it could also go after Australis’s top selling SUV and number two seller outright, the RAV4, which is only available as a regular (plugless) hybrid that runs purely on petrol. It is priced from $39,760 plus on-road costs.

The J7’s Super Hybrid System powertrain includes a 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, an electric motor and an 18.3kWh lithium ferrous phosphate (LFP) high-voltage battery pack.

The official combined powertrain outputs are 255kW/525Nm and the reported fuel consumption of 4.0L/100km.

While offering very limited information about the system, Jaecoo claims a 44.5 per cent thermal efficiency rating for the engine, which is exceptional.

A stepless electric hybrid system also has the capability to run in four modes – pure electric, series, parallel, and energy recovery.

The J7 measures up at 4500mm long, so it’s a bit shorter than the RAV4, Sealion 6 and Outlander.

The J7 shares its fundamental underpinnings with the Chery Tiggo Pro 7, but has different sheetmetal and is also expected to have higher pricing when it lands in Australia..

The larger Jaecoo J8 SUV has been confirmed to arrive later in 2025 to join the J7. It could also have a PHEV variant.

The smaller J5 and the J6 EV are also under consideration for Australia, but timing is not confirmed.