Europe thought it had time. It was wrong. The Jaecoo 8 is already rolling out in the UK, and the first tests are louder than anyone would have expected. With 315 kW and a battery bigger than many city electric cars, it's coming to the continent this autumn. The question is no longer whether it's good. The question is how much it hurts.
Two years ago, almost no one in Europe could pronounce the word Jaecoo. Today, many a CEO in Wolfsburg or Munich would wish they had never heard it. The brand is part of the Chinese Chery, which has been making cars for nearly three decades and sells them in more than 120 markets. The name is a portmanteau of the German word for hunter and the English word cool. It sounds like an idea from a marketing meeting, because it is. But the results are not.
In April 2026, the Omoda and Jaecoo group announced that approaching one million vehicles sold in less than three years, and in Europe it has sold more than 250,000 cars in twenty markets. In the UK, the smaller Jaecoo model was the country's best-selling new car in the 7th month of March 2026. Not in its class. In the country. According to Autocar At that time, the brand sold one car every 83 seconds of working time.
And now they've sent in the heavy artillery. The Jaecoo 8 is the top of the range, a seven-seat plug-in hybrid that the manufacturer shamelessly places against models like the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Škoda Kodiaq and, if you want to go all out, the BMW X5.
Important for us: The British have been driving it since spring, and it's coming to continental roads this fall, more towards winter. This means that this time we have something that is rare for new brands. We have a whole bunch of independent tests by people who have sat in the car, weighed it and braked with it before the first Slovenian buyer even sees it in the showroom. That's why this time I'm not writing what I think. I'm writing what those who have already driven it have measured and reported.
Exterior: An Audi that got lost on the way from Ingolstadt
When you first see the Jaecoo 8, you think of the Audi Q7. The shape of the grille, the stroke of the headlights, the vertical slats that also smell like Mercedes AMG. It's not original. But it's effective, because it looks two classes more expensive than it actually is. This is the only thing in this article where I allow myself to make my own judgment, because you don't have to get behind the wheel to evaluate the design.
British testers were lenient with the exterior. They praised that the vents at the front aren't fake and really breathe, that the contrasting trim gives the bodywork that little bit of elegance that Chinese cars often lack, and that the brand name at the rear is embossed into the sheet metal, not just glued on.
They were less impressed with two details. The mighty dual exhaust pipes at the rear are just decoration, the real exhaust is hidden below and belongs to a modest 1.5-liter four-cylinder. And the number eight badge is designed in a way that might make someone think it's an electric car. It's not. It's a plug-in hybrid, and there's nothing wrong with saying that out loud.
All cars are parked on 20-inch rimsYou can choose the color and pattern of the rims, but not the size.
Space and practicality: eyes lie, but numbers tell it all
Now for the fine print that you won't find in the brochures.
Jaecoo 8 measures 4,820 mm in length, 1,930 mm in width and 1,710 mm in height, and the wheelbase is 2,820 mm. This is a truly big car. To get a sense of where it stands: Škoda Kodiaq 4.76 · Kia Sorento 4.81 · Jaecoo 8 4.82 · Hyundai Santa Fe 4.83 · BMW X5 4.94. So he's in the company he's destined for.
The problem is that exterior dimensions don't automatically translate to interior space, and that's where the British tests are most ruthless. With all seven seats in place, there's still room for luggage. 200 liters, which is about one suitcase and a bit of goodwill. Fold the third row and you get 738 liters, which is decent, although at carwow they point out that this is still less than in the Kodiaq or Sorento. Fold the second row and the space increases to 2,021 liters.
The third row is, according to their reports, useful for children and for adults who owe you a favor. Getting into it is complicated in the six-seat version because the second-row seats do not fold down with a button, but you have to twist through an opening. There is a lack of space above your head. In What Caru? They described the third row without curves as tight.
That's why Jaecoo has taken care of something that most competitors leave out. At Autocar, they found a storage compartment under the floor of the trunk. full-size spare wheel, and this despite the battery, 70-liter tank and seven seats. This is well thought out.
The Germans sell the sign. The Chinese sell the equipment. But the buyer is increasingly looking at what he gets for his money.
Interior: A class or two higher until you look beneath the surface
Here the story turns in favor of the Chinese, and this is according to the unanimous opinion of British testers. If the exterior is Audi, the interior is Mercedes GLE. They report on the placement of the air vents, the stepped dashboard, the position of the seat switches and even the feeling of closing the glove compartment, which is padded with felt. The materials, they say, are soft, the center console does not wobble, the sound of the doors closing is deep and expensive. Some went so far as to put the quality of the materials above that of Mercedes.
You get a panoramic glass roof as standard, two 12.3-inch screens, AR display on the windshield, Sony 14-speaker sound system, 3D surround view cameras, 50-watt wireless phone charging with cooling and heated, ventilated, and massage seats, including in the second row. The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155. The driver's seat has speakers in the headrest, so you can make phone calls without the whole car listening in.
Let's be honest, because Macarolo's article is not an advertisement. British tests list three things that are annoying. There are no physical buttons for the climate control, so everything is done via the screen, which means navigating the menu with your finger while driving. According to their reports, the voice assistant works when it wants to. The steering wheel has a touchpad instead of real buttons. They also found a bezel on the test unit that didn't quite fit.
Something else that needs to be said and that was only discovered with a chair in hand: The Isofix system has only two anchorage points., namely in the outer seats of the second row. One would expect more from a seven-seater.
Under the hood: three electric motors and a number you'll read twice
The Jaecoo 8 only exists in Europe as a plug-in hybrid with the Super Hybrid System. The recipe is interesting. The basis is 1.5-liter Miller-cycle turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 143 hpwho stand by his side three electric motors: two in the front, integrated into the three-speed hybrid transmission 3DHT, and one in the rear, which provides four-wheel drive. The petrol engine works as a generator most of the time. The wheels are powered by electricity.
The system power is 315 kW (428 hp or 422 hp), and torque 580 Nm (428 lb-ft)Acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h takes 5.8 seconds, and the final speed is electronically limited at 180 km/h (112 mph). From 90 to 120 km/h it is driven in 3.6 seconds, which is more useful in the real world than any start from a traffic light.
To be clear, how fast that is. What Car? put it side by side with its rivals and found it faster than the Hyundai Santa Fe PHEV by eight seconds and the Peugeot 5008 PHEV by 8.3 seconds. That's not an advantage. That's in a different league.
British colleagues measured something more important than acceleration. Braking from 96 km/h (60 mph) took 34 meters, which, at a weight of around two and a quarter tons, is better than expected. A car that can accelerate must also be able to stop. This one can.
Battery and charging: a plug-in hybrid that pretends to be an electric car
This is where the Jaecoo 8 is truly special. The battery has 34.46 kWh. That's more than many city electric cars offer. The WLTP range is 134 km (83 miles) purely electric. Together with the 70-litre tank, the total range increases to over 1,000 kilometers, Italian Il Sole 24 Ore it even lists over 1,100.
Even better: fast charging with direct current up to 70 kWMost plug-in hybrids don't even know how to do this, and this one charges from 30 to 80 percent in about 20 to 25 minutes. Charge at home with alternating current at 6.6 kW, which is approximately five and a half hours for a full battery. At Electrifying They noticed an interesting detail: there is no usual charging data of 10 to 80 percent, because the system does not even let the battery drop below twenty percent before starting the gasoline engine.
Add more V2L with power up to 6.6 kW and the car becomes a mobile socket for camping, a workshop or anything that needs electricity in the middle of nowhere. Combined consumption according to WLTP is 2.1 liters per 100 km, with a dead battery 7.7 liters per 100 km. The first number is a laboratory fairy tale, the second is the truth. The British test with a dead battery showed real 45.6 miles per gallon, which is about 6.2 liters per 100 kilometers. Electrifying estimated that the car was well on its way to almost 80 miles of electric range on a mixed drive, but in winter or when fully loaded, this should drop to about 65.
There is also a field vein: wading depth 600 mm and seven driving programs, including Snow, Mud, Sand and Off Road.
Driving: what those who have already driven it report
I'll be extra careful here, as I haven't sat behind the wheel myself. So I'm summarizing the British tests, which are surprisingly consistent.
On winding roads, the Jaecoo 8 surprises. The chassis has adaptive dampers, and when you select the sports program, the car reportedly stops leaning, and the steering wheel gains some weight. The grip is better than you would expect from a two-ton family SUV, which is largely due to the lightning-fast response of the electric motors.
But this is where the unity ends. At What Caru? were harsh: the steering wheel, in their opinion, remains distant and does not tell much about what the front wheels are doing, the tires are not the most engaged, the body leans in fast corners, and the suspension bounces on poor surfaces and transmits sharper impacts into the cabin. In their opinion, the Santa Fe is more convincing in this regard.
Carwow was more lenient. Their conclusion is that the Jaecoo 8 is quite competitive among its competitors at the same price, but the difference only becomes apparent when you compare it to the German premium class. Their comparison is the best I've heard on this subject: a good pianist in a pub can play anything and sounds great until you hear a concert pianist. Then you know where the difference is. And you also know how much a concert pianist costs.
In the city, the marriages are getting closer again. The steering wheel is light, the forward visibility is excellent, the all-round view cameras are excellent, and the turning circle is decent. It's quiet and calm.
Price and when it comes: where the competition gets stuck in its throat
In the UK, where the car is already in showrooms, the Jaecoo 8 starts at £45,500 for the seven-seat Luxury version and at £47,500 for the six-seat Executive with two independent massage seats in the second row. In the Netherlands, which is a good proxy for mainland Europe, prices are 53,990 euros for the five-seat version and 55,990 euros for a seven-seater.
It will be available on the wider European market, including our roads, this autumn, more towards winter. The official price for the Slovenian market has not yet been confirmed at the time of writing this article. As a reference, the related Omoda 9 SHS-P with the same type of drivetrain in our country costs 44,990 eurosThe two brands have been in Slovenia since autumn 2025 and by the beginning of 2026 they had collected nearly 500 signed contracts and opened their first sales and service showrooms. You can find the current offer at Slovenian websites Omoda and Jaecoo.
Add more seven-year warranty and an eight-year battery warranty, the calculation becomes uncomfortably convincing for many families.
Verdict: What does it all mean before I drive it myself
Who is it for? A family that needs a lot of car, a lot of equipment and a lot of electricity, but not a badge that the neighbor would recognize from fifty meters away. Someone who drives less than a hundred kilometers every day and has a socket at home, because he will only visit the gas station on vacation. And someone who likes the idea of being as fast as the Q7 for half the money.
Who do I not recommend it to? If we believe the British tests, those who expect driving pleasure and feedback from the car through the steering wheel. Those who will use the third row every day, as it is tight and not easy to get into. And those who need more than two Isofix anchors.
It's fair to say this: the trunk with seven seats is small, the air conditioning without physical buttons is a nuisance while driving, and the declared consumption of two liters is a mathematical trick that you will only achieve if you drive mostly on electricity. And yet.
The Jaecoo 8 is not a perfect car. But it is a car that, for the price of a well-equipped Kodiaq, offers 428 horsepower, 134 kilometers of electric range, fast charging that only a handful of plug-in hybrids have, and an interior that you have to touch to believe the price. The British have tested it and, despite all the criticisms, unanimously call it a good car. This is no longer a story about a cheap Chinese car. This is a story about how quickly the bar has moved.
Europe has long said that the Chinese can't make a real family SUV. Now they've made one, the British have already tested it, and it's coming to our roads this fall. The next step is no longer theirs. It's ours.
