The Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max is joining the carmaker's range in South Africa. Picture: Charl Bosch
Chery South Africa has revealed its plans for the rest of the year, which includes the Jaecoo brand and the addition of Chery Tiggo 7 Pro Max to its local portfolio.
Arguably the most interesting news from the Chinese carmaker in the aftermath of the Shanghai Auto Show is that Jaecoo will follow another of their new brands, Omoda, to South Africa in either the final quarter of 2023 or early 2024.
Like Omoda, Jaecoo will also be positioned as more premium than Chery products and will initially only be offered in one model, the J7. While final technical details are still unknown, Chery did state that petrol motivation will be the sole method of propulsion for the J7 for the time being.
Chery’s other premium brand, Exeed, will not be offered in South Africa, with Jaecoo taking the position as the brand’s top dog.
Similar to the Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max, the Tiggo 7 Pro Max will be powered by a 1.6 T-GDi engine and will be offered in front and all-wheel drive. It is expected in South Africa in the third quarter.
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An updated front-wheel drive version of the Tiggo 8 Pro Max is also expected locally in the third quarter, with an all-wheel drive following in the fourth quarter.
The updated Chery Tiggo 8 Pro Max benefits from a restyling at the front and rear and also a completely new interior sporting a Mercedes-Benz MBUX-style dual infotainment system and digital instrument cluster.
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Chery did not confirm whether the Max’s 2.0 T-GDi engine would produce more power than the current 187 kW/390 Nm.
At the range’s entry point, the runaway success that is the Tiggo 4 Pro will receive incremental changes, but remain mostly unchanged for at least another two years.
A no-no for now is the flagship Chery Tiggo 9 Pro due to it being unavailable with right-hand-drive.
Hinted at Chery’s official relaunch in South Africa two years ago, its rumoured bakkie has officially been put on hold, but not scrapped entirely.
Pricing details for all of the relative models bound for South Africa are to be released later.
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