Preview for South Africa? All-electric Jaecoo J6 debuts in Thailand

Seemingly certain to arrive next year, Chery-owned Jaecoo has provided an effective preview of what South Africa could expect from the J6 by way of the all-electric SUV’s market debut in Thailand.

What is it?

Shown at the brand’s in-house product reveal days after the Beijing Auto Show in May this year, the J6 uses sister brand iCar’s 03 as a base with only minor cosmetic changes having taken place.

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While the images posted on the Omoda-Jaecoo Thailand website show the J6 with the iCar logo and facia, the final model will have a Jaecoo look complete with a wraparound upper grille section, indented L-shaped LED headlights and a flat logo bar with the Jaecoo lettering on it.

Measuring 4 406 mm long, 1 910 mm wide and 1 715 mm tall with a wheelbase of 2 715 mm, the J6, in Thailand, has a claimed ground clearance of 195 mm and as standard, three driving modes; Eco, Normal and Sport.

2WD or AWD

Similar to the 03 that bowed at the Shanghai Auto Show last year as the first model of the dedicated all-electric iCar brand, the J6 offers a choice of two models in Thailand distinguished by battery size and electric motor count.

In base form, the rear-wheel-drive develops 135kW/220Nm thanks to a 65.6-kWh lithium-ion phosphate battery pack powering the rear axle mounted motor.

Able to travel 371 km according to Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicles Test Procedures (WLTP standards, the claimed top speed is 150 km/h with 0-100 km/h taking 10.5 seconds.

Although fitted with a 6.6 kW on-board charger as standard, the J6 supports DC charging up to 80 kW.

Utilising a slightly larger 69.7-kWh battery pack, the all-wheel-drive J6 adds a second electric motor to the front axle for a final power output of 206 kW and torque of 385 Nm.

While limited to the same top speed as the rear-wheel-drive, the all-wheel-drive will accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 6.5 seconds and require charging after 364 km based on the WLTP scale.

Provided is the same charger and DC outlet support as the two-wheel-drive, albeit with three additional driving modes; Snow, Mud and Sand.

Spec and tech

In terms of specification, the Thai-spec J6 boasts a 15.6-inch infotainment system, a 50-watt wireless smartphone charger, a digital instrument cluster binnacle, electric front seats, a panoramic sunroof, surround-view camera system with a transparent front camera, and Matrix LED headlights.

Reserved for the all-wheel-drive are 19-inch alloy wheels in place of the rear-wheel-drive’s 18-inches, massaging function for the front seats and in place of the eight-speaker sound system, a 12-speaker Infinity unit.

Price indicator

Available in four colours; Arctic White, Night Black, Coin Grey and Lunar Silver with Forest Green reserved for the all-wheel-drive, the J6 has a sticker price of 1 099 000 baht (R566 952) that increases to 1 249 000 baht (R644 334) for the all-paw variant.

In South Africa, the J6 will top the Jaecoo range by a sizable margin over the combustion engine J7 and soon, the six-seat only J8.

For the time being, exact pricing remains unknown, but spec is likely to be similar to the Thai model on account of the steering gear being located on the right-hand side as well.

Additional information from headlightmag.com and Omoda/Jaecoo Thailand

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