Jetour is different, insists Chinese brand

Jetour is pushing back against attempts to define its brand positioning as it gears up for an Australian launch in 2027. Is it ‘just another Chinese brand’ or something else? Jetour insists its mix of off-road capability, technology and broad model range defies simple categorisation. 

Is Jetour a cut-price Jeep brand? Launching in Australia in 2027, Jetour is a little different and trying to pin down some sort of simple description is not easy.

Mostly because the Chery-affiliated company has singled out for itself a market sector that defies straightforward labelling.

Based on the style of individual Jetour models, or the fit and finish, a punter might say the company is upmarket. But can a challenger brand with a dual-cab ute in its range be ‘near premium’?

Some of the company’s models are aimed at hard-core off-roaders, the 4x4 SUV scene, but some of its smaller models are considered light-duty SUVs.

And if the company opts to sell models from its soft-road SUV sub-brand Soueast as Jetour models in Australia, that all-terrain image is diluted.

So is it a tech company? The advanced features that Jetour promote in its models are not generally unique to the brand. Although its amphibious G700 SUV is truly something else, and could be the unique selling point that sets it apart.

Place these questions before Jetour executive vice president Yan Jun, as carsales did during the Beijing motor show in 2026 recently, and Mr Yan will demur.

Fixing Jetour’s market position based on price provides no answers either.

Yan did not care to forecast what the pricing would be ‘nine or 10 months’ into the future, due to the impact of the volatile geopolitical situation on world markets.

“The question that you ask is very specific... so basically, for branding... the target customer [should] be a high-end customer, because the models we are going to launch in Australia is T2/T1 – it’s not a cheap car,” Mr Jun told us.

We have already tested the Jetour T2 i-DM PHEV and it certainly shows a lot of promise.

“For us, we launch the brand image and the brand reputation first... we want to deliver very special value to the customer. For the pricing, it depends on how the market moves, because... of the abnormal situation, especially from the Middle East.

“Even if you asked me now what’s your price point, I have no answer...”

According to Jetour president Ke Chuandeng, the local Aussie pricing is ‘not defined’ yet.

“We have to make a survey; we have to agree with our partners,” said the Jetour president.

“Before we [decide] the price, we want to talk with our partners – the dealer partners. Because we don’t want to [announce] a price if everybody is aghast...

“So we will have an internal discussion to make a good price; it will be not so high, not so low. Higher? No sales. Lower? No margin,” he said.

To avoid the problem of talking money, Yan and Ke were asked where Jetour fitted in the market, relative to other brands.

Mr Ke suggested that Jetour would be a disruptive brand, appealing to younger generations, precisely because Jetour is not one of the prestige brands favoured by older generations.

“For example, your family – and you have father, you have son – and the father would be always in the BMW or Benz, because they have driven this car for more than 10 or 20 years...

“For the new generation, they want to try new. That [brand loyalty] is the challenge in China.

“In China now, for the new generation, nobody wants just to follow the big brands, the big names,” he said.

This has been exemplified by models like the Zeekr 9X, which has accounted for a third of all sales in the ultra-luxury SUV segment in China over the last six months.

The Zeekr flagship is a $100K-plus vehicle yet has accumulated more than 50,000 sales over the last six months.

So this potential shift in consumer buying behaviour opens the way for Jetour to charge prices that are profitable, and not have to fight for every last scrap of business.

Maybe in years to come we’ll be able to look back and see whether Jetour’s position in the market is appropriate in regards to the vehicles it sells.

For the moment, however, Jetour seems out on its own, somewhere north of Mazda or Honda for price, and somewhere east of Land Rover and Volkswagen for tech.

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