The Jishi 01 hybrid SUV from China looks like it's ready to take on the Land Rover Defender and Kia EV9

What do you get when you cross a Land Rover Defender and a Kia EV9? Probably something not too far from this, the Jishi 01.

Revealed in China as the first model from new-brand Jishi under the BAIC Motor umbrella - the same conglomerate that owns Foton - the Jishi 01 is a large six- or seven-seat SUV apparently looking to muscle in on the popularity of models like the Defender.

It’s likely to make a public debut at the 2023 Chengdu Motor Show, but details published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in China, along with the official photos published by the brand, reveal most of what we need to know about the hybrid SUV.

Coming in at 5050mm long, 1980mm wide, 1869mm tall and with a 3010mm wheelbase, the Jishi 01 is bigger than a Land Rover Defender 110, though info from Chinese media says it’ll be powered by a relatively small engine… sort of.

A turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine will act as a range extender for the SUV’s 56kWh battery pack and electric motors, which allows a claimed 1115km range under WLTC testing. It’s also a plug-in, able to be charged when not in use.

On the outside, it’s not hard to see where the Defender influence comes in with the Jishi 01’s boxy design and two-tone colour scheme, even the vent trim behind the front wheel arch is almost the same.

The departure from the Defender’s design comes in where things start to look a little more Kia EV9 - the lights, which have a Y- or T-shape framing the SUV’s face at the front, and very T-shaped tail-lights which drop down to flank the rear panelling.

Inside, an option of six or seven seats is available, with the first two rows both remaining two-seats each, while the third can be two or three-seats wide.

For the driver, a pair of large screens for instrument display and multimedia are inset and mounted on the dash respectively, while rear passengers can watch media on a roof-mounted screen.

Given SAIC has no presence in Australia aside from Foton’s truck brand, don’t expect to see the Jishi 01 on our roads here any time soon.