27/04/2025

Contributing Editor Keshy Dhillon / keshy@piston.my Editorial

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SUNDAY | APR 27, 2025

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Dashing

New Jetour SUV ideal for young families on a budget

BY KESHY DHILLON

The flagship model rolls on 19-inch wheels.

IF YOU think you’re being bom barded by new car brands from China on a near weekly basis, well, you would not be the only one. As motoring scribes, those in my profession are facing an onslaught of brands, information and model updates at a pace that could just match the smart phone industry. It was never like this just a few years ago, when there would proba bly be one new model launch a month, a couple of press conference a week and that would be about it. The pace was slower. Much slower. But this quicker pace of things is not a bad thing. In fact, everyone stands to win from this. Legacy brands that have been having it easy in Malaysia are now forced to rethink their strategies to offer Malaysians the best value for money cars or otherwise be left behind. The newer brands have to com pete harder to convince buyers and they do so by giving as many fea tures as they can for as low a price tag as possible. Many would agree that the fea tures being offered would put some locally assembled premium brands to shame. But who ultimately wins from all this? You! The consumer. The buyer. And joining the race now is a brand called Jetour. And if you have not already heard of them, well, you’re in for quite a treat. Who is Jetour? Jetour is another brand under the massive Chery group, which also

The engine may not be very powerful but at least the car is comfortable.

There’s also the all-important spare wheel.

organised by the team at Jetour Malaysia, I had a chance to get prop erly acquainted with the flagship Prime variant. It was the only model available, and with a price tag of the afore mentioned RM116,800, I approached it whole heartedly. And you can’t help but embrace the experience “whole heartedly” because when you first see the Dashing in person, it truly looks like a majestic car because of its size and futuristic design angles. Its design has a little bit of every thing in it. A touch of Lotus, head lights from the Omoda 5 and stacked on top of one another like they are on the Mitsubishi Triton. The rear is a mix of Toyota Corolla Cross and the Omoda 5 as well. It is a good-looking car, and that is to be expected since the brains behind the design is none other than Hakan Saracoglu.

able for those interested. The Dashing is available in two different variants, the entry-level Dashing 1.5 TCI Prime which is priced at RM109,800 and the flag ship Prime variant, priced at RM116,800. The Dashing operates in the ultra-competitive SUV C-Segment, which includes such heavyweights as the Proton X70, Honda CRV as well as the GWM Haval H6. So, the Dashing truly has a mountain to I look for the good and the bad every time I review a car in order to help you make an informed pur chase decision. But any car reviewer should always look at the price tag of the car first, before seeing the actual car what more driving it. On a recent first impression drive climb to convince buyers. The trick up its sleeve

It is no secret that Chery is inter ested to move upmarket with its premium brands, it is consistently firing salvos at that segment with its Omoda and Jaecoo sub-brands in the local market as well as other global market. With Jetour, it can focus on a cre ating products for a completely dif ferent demographic using products that are tech-savvy and youth focused that offer high value-for money with a design that is both trendy and sporty. Enter the Dashing This is the first model introduced by Jetour for the local market. And it is set for local assembly in a few months. Jetour is working with Berjaya Assembly to assemble the cars at its plant in Johor, but the first 100 cars will be imported from China. So as of writing this, ready stock is avail

includes the likes of Omoda and Jaecoo as well. You might be wondering why Chery would expand their brand identity so thin, but there is a spe cific reason behind it. While Omoda and Jaecoo focus on the export market as premium brands, Jetour has its own specific purpose as well. A quick search online will tell you that Jetour was created to “focus on affordable, family-oriented SUVs and crossovers particularly target ing young families and middle-class consumers.” So, by creating a sub-brand, Chery could then focus on creating niche products for a different demo graphic without diluting its main brand. And this would also allow Chery to compete against domestic and international rivals in the budget SUV segment.