Electric, off-road ready Jaecoo J6 unboxed at Festival of Motoring

Officially launched at its future product event in its hometown of Wuhu in April, Chery-owned Jaecoo unwrapped the homologation version of the all-electric J6 at the Kyalami Festival of Motoring on Thursday (29 August).

From iCar to ‘J-car’

In effect a rebadged version of the iCar 03 that went on-sale in China last year, the exhibited J6 still sported the iCar specific front facia and iCar badges on both the storage box substituting for the spare wheel cover, and on the steering wheel.

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As shown in Wuhu though, the blocky Defender-esque production J6 will get a concealed lower Jaecoo branded grille cover and Jaecoo badging inside and out once on South African soil in the first quarter of 2025.

The ‘I’ motif taillight clusters will, however, remain, but unlike in Thailand where sales started this month, not the option of rear-wheel-drive as only all-wheel-drive models will be sold locally.

AWD only

Confirmed to be joined by the delayed six-seat only J8 in the second quarter of the year and by the end of 2025, the still unseen J5, the J6 measures 4 406 mm long, 1 910 mm wide and 1 715 mm tall with its wheelbase stretching 2 715 mm.

Likely to offer the same 195 mm of ground clearance and three driving modes as in Thailand; Eco, Normal and Sport, the sole drivetrain comprises a dual-motor set-up powered by a 67.7-kWh lithium-ion phosphate battery pack.

Producing a combined 279kW/385Nm, the J6 will get from 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds and travel 364 km on a single charge.

Supporting DC charging up to 80 kW, the J6 will most likely feature a 6.6 kW on-board charger as standard, although at present, nothing has been confirmed.

The same applies to specification, though the exhibited prototype did feature the 15.6-inch touchscreen infotainment system, the digital instrument cluster binnacle, electric front seats, a panoramic sunroof and the surround-view camera system.

Besides the J6 and J5, 2025 will also see the roll-out of the plug-in hybrid J7 and J8, the former combining the 1.5 T-GDI engine with a 19.27-kWh battery pack for a total system output of 255kW/525Nm, and the latter the 2.0 T-GDI with an unspecified battery pack delivering a reported 445kW/915Nm.

Incoming Omodas

Elsewhere, sister brand Omoda showcased the production-ready C9 due out in November, as well as approving four other models for 2025; the C5 hybrid, the plug-in hybrid C9 and the all-new C7 in both combustion and plug-in hybrid configuration.

Separate from Chery by operating under its own Omoda & Jaecoo or O&J banner, more details of all of the respective models will emerge once 2025 kicks-off.

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