Think what you like about Chinese car brands, but there is no doubt that they are making a huge impact on the South African car market, bringing a whole new element of choice and not a little quality.
The latest brand to hit SA’s shores is part of the Chery stable of brands, which includes Omoda – celebrating its first year in the country. The new brand is called Jaecoo and the J7 model has clearly taken the market by storm, selling enough units in its first month to place it 28th out of the 54 automotive brands currently on offer in SA’s new-vehicle market.
The JAECOO J7’s sales performance helped the Chery Group secure its highest-ever monthly sales total of 2,009 units, which in turn resulted in a record 6th place on the overall manufacturer standings for the month and 4th position in the passenger-vehicle segment. That is an impressive performance by any standard.
“Even though the J7 has only just arrived on the local market, it’s clear South Africans are excited by what this new model – not to mention the JAECOO brand as a whole, with its ‘From Classic, Beyond Classic’ philosophy – has to offer. In the end, the J7 accounted for a strong 7.4% of Chery’s record total for the month,” said Tony Liu, Executive Deputy General Manager Chery/OMODA & JAECOO South Africa.
While the three-strong J7 line-up – priced from just R549 900 and including a range-topping Inferno derivative equipped with all-wheel drive and as many as 7 driving modes – has given JAECOO a particularly robust start in South Africa, the local line-up is poised to welcome further models in the coming months.
“We’re absolutely delighted with the J7’s sales performance in what was a partial month for a new-to-market model. Though we’ve only just launched JAECOO in South Africa – with the country becoming both the first right-hand-drive market to offer this model as well as the first in Africa – we have big plans for this forward-thinking brand, including on the new-energy vehicle front,” said Shannon Gahagan, National Brand and Marketing Manager OMODA & JAECOO.
Models slated for near-future launch are the J8 PHEV and the J6. Expect both of them to have a similar impact on the market.
