The Jetour Dashing is rumoured to be launched locally sometime within the latter half of 2024.
As previously reported first on DSF.my, Chinese automaker Jetour will soon be landing in Malaysia. And while there was no word yet then on which models was to kickstart its local debut, this mystery has since been solved with word of the Dashing being the one to kickstart this yet another subsidiary of Chery’s journey over here.
Starting from the very basics first for those who have yet to hear of this brand and as alluded to above, Jetour is indeed yet another automaker within the wider Chery umbrella. Positioned as a slightly more upmarket offshoot relative to the its parent company and more city-slicking compared to its Jaecoo sister brand, this particular subsidiary — which is incidentally pronounced ‘Jietu’ by the way — is perhaps best known outside of China for its Defender and Bronco clone dubbed the T2.
Some Malaysians might have also possibly stumbled upon Jetour too from it having a 7-seat SUV in its lineup that incidentally shares the same name with a current Proton model. The Jetour X70 Plus will all but likely be renamed upon its local landing in Malaysia, which is incidentally forecasted to apparently take place soon after the premiere Dashing’s over here.
In the interest of conciseness here though, further details regarding the X70 Plus will be left to a separate story, with what is to come from here being more information regarding the Dashing. A ‘Vanguard Technology SUV’ dubs Jetour in its global marketing material, this particular C-segment 5-seat SUV is essentially the Chinese automaker’s answer to Honda’s CR-V and Mazda’s CX-5 (as well as funnily enough, the Jaecoo J7).
Now true to its Dashing name, this Jetour is certainly a rather dashing thing to look at. Its face especially is particularly striking, with it featuring a pair of slim LED headlights that sit atop arguably one of the largest front grilles in the industry.
Moving on round the side meanwhile, the Dashing’s chunky lower half is accentuated by a set of flush door handles and dual-tone alloy wheels. Its svelte top half in turn is highlighted by a chromed accent trim and Jetour badge (alá BMW X2) on its D-pillar, while the Y-shaped ends of its wraparound taillights leads onto a set of quad exhaust tips and stylised third brake light situated within the integrated diffuser and roof spoilers respectively on the shapely rump of this SUV.
As for what lies under its hood, while the Dashing may be based upon Jetour’s in-house Kunlun architecture, this SUV does nevertheless net the same brace of powertrains that is found in the wider Chery family. This includes the option of a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder from the Omoda 5 or a 1.6-litre boosted four-pot from the Jaecoo J7, with both paired to a 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission driving the front wheels in this particular application.
Turning inwards now, the Dashing’s rather straight-edged and minimalistic dashboard layout is only broken up by a two-spoke steering wheel and a 15.6-inch floating central touchscreen. Other tech highlights within this Jetour SUV worth a mention is to be a carbon monoxide monitor, a display on the driver’s door that shows the external environment temperature, with the Chinese automaker touting too for its 8-speaker Sony in-car HiFi able to fully capitalise on the 36 dB sound levels within its ‘silent cabin’.
Finishing finally with a little bit of figures on the Dashing, this SUV currently measures in at a 4,590 mm in length, 1,900 mm in width and features a wheelbase of 2,720 mm. This puts it about the same size as the current Mazda CX-5, as well as the Proton X70.
What is unfortunately unavailable thus far in terms of figures though is of course the price of this Dashing when it eventually lands locally. Though given that its sister Jaecoo brand has managed to slide its similarly-sized J7 into the market at around the RM 150k – RM 160k mark, it is not too hard to presume for this Jetour to cost around that same ballpark too.
