Is this indicative of an imminent launch of this particular rugged-looking Jetour T2 over here?
While it has already been officially announced that Jetour is to be landing locally later this year with the debut of its Dashing and X70 Plus SUVs, there might just be a third model to join not all long after as well. Or at least it could be thought of as such anyway, from the recent sighting of a matte grey example of its T2, which was literally just sitting there completely undisguised at a side road leading to the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur.
Now unfortunately, unfavourable conditions (bad weather and bad timing) did not permit for any closer inspection of this T2. Though what could nevertheless be gleaned from having saw it for that short instance is that this particular premium Chinese off-roader is really a spitting image of the Land Rover Defender, with only its ever-so-slightly squatter profile (and bold JETOUR script on its front grille) alerting the photographer of this picture that this was no 110.
Perhaps it is precisely because it looks so much like a Defender then that this T2 was left undisguised, such that it better blends in with the other Land Rovers that are typically found at a high-end establishment such as the Ritz Carlton Kuala Lumpur…
In any case, just providing a little bit more information here regarding Jetour and its T2, this Chinese marque is to be an(other) off-shoot of Chery. The basics of this Defender-mimicking model meanwhile is for it to be built around a monocoque body, and comes with a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol powered four-cylinder paired to a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission.
Jetour touts to differentiate itself from its similarly off-road-centric Jaecoo sister brand by catering more towards “an adventure, off-road SUV, for traveling farther”. To that end, the T2 comes equipped with BorgWarner’s sixth-generation four-wheel-drive technology and a fully automatic intelligent full-time XWD system.
Among the other impressive off-road technical specs with this T2 include a 28° approach angle, a 30° departure angle, a minimum ground clearance of 220 mm, and a wading depth of 700 mm. This off-roader also features a dedicated Crawl mode amidst its other plethora of driver-configurable modes, which encompasses Sport, Normal, Economy, Snow, Mud, and Rock.
As for the premium part of this premium off-roader on the other hand, the T2’s rugged-look cabin is headlined by a 15.6-inch floating central infotainment display with a built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon 8155 chipset. This Jetour 4×4 further packs a 12-channel Sony premium audio system, a 10.25-inch digital drivers display, a 64-inch panoramic sunroof and ventilated front seats, while its driver aids come in the form of a Level 2-capable ADAS suite and a 540º surround view camera.
The T2 has been on sale in its home market of China since late last year, where it is dubbed the Traveller over there. Incidentally too on the topic of Traveller, the T2 is actually to be but a small part of a Jetour’s planned Off-Road Travel lineup of cars, for which it has previously teased at the 2024 Malaysia Autoshow.
