First Impressions of the Jaecoo J5 & Omoda O7

We were invited to attend the Chery International Users Submit (or CIUS for short) earlier this month. And as part of said submit, we were also given exclusive access to several of the group’s upcoming models.

The CIUS isn’t just a singular conference. Rather, it was a series of events, talks, seminars and car displays scattered throughout Chery’s hometown of Wuhu. It also showcased the true scale of Chery’s operations in China. And it’d take you a while to wrap your head around just how massive the group has become.

Which is something you might not have expected, since we only get two of their export brands in Singapore – Omoda and Jaecoo. In China, they have no less than six different brands, including Chery, Exeed, Luxeed, iCar, Jetour and their robotics arm dubbed Aimoga.

Though the group does rebadge a lot of their domestic cars as Omoda or Jaecoo models for export purposes, especially to right-hand drive markets.

First, The Jaecoo J5

Context over, let’s do a deeper dive on the Jaecoo J5 and Omoda O7. Why these two cars? Well, they’d eventually make their way over to Singapore, and a first look would be helpful for those considering a new compact crossover in the not-too-distant future.

We first had a chance to have an in-depth look at a Jaecoo J5 at the lobby of the hotel we were booked into. Right in the courtyard was a dark blue J5 BEV, with the steering wheel on the right side of the car. Visually, the new J5 does seem to be of a similar stature to Omoda C5 (that’s the combustion version of the E5 that we get here).

And the spec sheet backs that up. At 4.38 metres in length, the J5 is actually marginally shorter than the C5. However, it has a taller roof, and the boxy profile does mean you get more interior space. Though this really shouldn’t come as a surprise, as both cars share Chery’s T1X platform.

Visually the J5 looks like a minimalistic version of its J7 stablemate, with Jaecoo having preserved most of the general lines of the latter, but without a lot of the intricate design elements that you’d see on the bumper. It’s not a bad looking car by any means, though the electric version looks better in a darker hue, as the front end feels a little empty without a front grille.

We are happy to report that the J5 feels fairly spacious on the inside. No high floor and steeply raked rear seat base here – the J5 feels refreshing conventional, and thus, comfortable. Even the overall insulation was done rather well – we sampled a hybrid J5 on a closed course, and the roar from its engine under strain was muffled sufficiently.

The BEV version should then be even more refined. The steering feels better than on the J7 and E5, though Jaecoo could beef up the resistance on the brake pedal a touch to help with finer modulations in real-world traffic.

We haven’t had any official confirmation as to which variants will make their way to Singapore, but we will not be surprised if it came here as a Category A BEV.

Next, the Omoda O7

Also built on the T1X platform is the upcoming Omoda O7. It is even longer than the J5, with an overall length of 4.66 metres (though the curvaceous design does hide its size). The exterior design is very different to that of the Jaecoo cars, and feels like an evolution of the Omoda E5’s design.

The materials used here feel as good as, or perhaps even marginally better than, the stuff Chery used in the J5. The switchgear is also improved over the J7 and E5, and, on first impressions at least, matches the quality of some continental OEMs.

As the roofline doesn’t aggressively taper into the C pillar, there’s actually a good bit of head space in the rear bench. We didn’t actually get to test drive the O7 – at the test drive segment of the CIUS, Omoda took the opportunity to showcase its new smart auto-parking system.

This does all the usual stuff – it can search for a suitable lot and back itself into it, but there are a few other smarts built into it. For starters it does the aforementioned usual stuff a lot better than similar systems on comparable cars (at least it did so in the controlled environment of their parking demo).

But you can also set your own parking boundaries on the screen, and control where it stops via your key fob.

The powertrain options are more straightforward here – the O7 is currently available as either a pure ICE vehicle, or as a SHS-equipped PHEV. As the T1X platform is also configurable for EVs, we wouldn’t be surprised if it made its way to Singapore as a Category A BEV.

The Future is Bright

Chinese EVs are fast approaching a saturation point. The larger manufacturers from China haven’t really done a lot to revolutionise their offerings, instead choosing to sell essentially the same crossovers that they’ve had on offer for years now.

But it is clear that this approach isn’t the Chery way. With a slew of new cars coming, and with continued enhancements to existing models, it is clear that Chery, via its export brands Omoda | Jaecoo for the Singapore market, isn’t here just to make up the numbers.

They have shown that you don’t have to rely on battery architecture or powertrain technologies from a third-party. And that in-house R&D can create unparalleled synergies and efficiencies – the J7 PHEV’s truly impressive real-world range is proof of that.

And if an existing car can already set such an astounding benchmark, imagine what their upcoming models will eventually be able to do!