Jaecoo J7 PHEV CKD production begins, launch Feb

The first unit of the Jaecoo J7 PHEV has rolled off the assembly line at Jaecoo’s Shah Alam plant (which also assembles the non-PHEV Jaecoo J7 and Omoda C9) ahead of its Malaysian launch later this month.

“We believe the Jaecoo J7 PHEV fits in perfectly with the market’s appetite for an alternative between the internal combustion engine (ICE) and electric vehicle (EV) segments providing the best of both worlds with its superior Super Hybrid System fondly known as SHS. As Malaysia’s EV ecosystem continues to develop, Jaecoo is happy to offer greater peace of mind to consumers considering the transition to hybrid energy mobility,” said Jaecoo Malaysia VP Emily Lek.

The J7 PHEV will be launched in front-wheel-drive form to start, locally assembled with an estimated price of RM170,000; given Jaecoo’s form over the past year, we expect the actual car to retail far less than that. As the name suggests, the car is the plug-in hybrid version of the popular J7, with a few visual and ergonomic tweaks to go with the powertrain change, including new aero wheels.

Under the bonnet is of course where the single biggest difference lies. Out goes the 1.6 litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine and seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, replaced by a hybrid-specific 1.5 litre unit that produces 143 PS and 215 Nm of torque. This is augmented by a 204 PS/310 Nm electric motor and a single-speed dedicated hybrid transmission (DHT) for a total of 347 PS and 525 Nm.

So equipped, the car can get from zero to 100 km/h seven tenths of a second quicker at 8.5 seconds, but the biggest beneficiary is fuel consumption, which drops to a claimed 4.9 litres per 100 km; even with the battery depleted, this figure only rises to 5.99 litres per 100 km.

Meanwhile, the BYD-sourced 18.3 kWh Blade lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery delivers a WLTP-rated electric range of 88 km, and together with the comparatively large 60 litre fuel tank, Jaecoo claims an overall range of 1,200 km.

The carmaker has been quite conservative with those figures – last month our colleague Jonathan Lee joined a group of Malaysian and Singaporean motoring journalists to drive a mammoth 1,066 km from Singapore to Hat Yai, during which his car averaged 3.8 litres per 100 km almost entirely on highways and still had 190 km of range remaining, as estimated by the trip computer.

The J7 PHEV won’t be the only Jaecoo launched this year – the company also plans to debut the all-electric J6 and the larger three-row J8 soon.

2025 Jaecoo J7 PHEV in Malaysia

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