Jaecoo News

2025 was certainly the year of the new car brand coming to Australia.

Jaecoo, the semi-premium arm of Chery, has revealed specifications of its J5 EV compact SUV.

No need for a local tuning program, at least not like GWM, according to Chery.

Yet another Chery sub-brand will hit our shores in 2026 - here's why the boss says it's not for regular SUV people.

The age of SUVs is firmly upon us, and carmakers are rolling out high-riding wagons at an astonishing rate.

The time of the purely combustion car is over: The age of the hybrid has begun.Now entrenched as the default choice amongst Aussie new car buyers, demand for fuel-sipping electrified cars has exploded and the new car market has well and truly responded.Hybrid cars in Australia in 2026 will see the market flooded with new and updated options hitting our shores and the lengthy list below contains only the ones we know about right now.Expect even more options to be confirmed over the course of the coming year.For now expect a theme - lots of new Chinese brands offering sought-after affordable electrified alternatives, and so-called ‘legacy’ brands scrambling to play catch-up.Read on to see the best hybrid cars in Australia in 2026.BYD’s largest and most expensive product yet, the seven-seat Sealion 8 is also a new-generation offering in its Chinese home market.Expect a familiar three-variant line-up for this plug-in hybrid in early 2026, with the range extending from a comparatively affordable base two-wheel drive, to a more performance-oriented all-wheel drive which will debut a new ‘DM-P’ powertrain for BYD in Australia, producing up to 400kW/668Nm.The Sealion 8 is expected to start from around $65,000 with prices possibly cresting $75,000 at the top. It features a new interior design language and batteries enabling a range of around 100-150km of range depending on variant.Australia’s favourite hybrid SUV will be getting an overhaul in the first quarter of 2026. It is expected to be one of the best hybrid cars in Australia in 2026 when it comes to sales, although it will be hit with price rises across the range.There’s a dramatically redesigned face and tail, as well as an overhauled interior, both in terms of the look and the tech, but ultimately it is the same size and platform as the outgoing version.The version arriving early in the year will be plug-less hybrid across its expansive range of variants, with more to come later on.KGM - formerly known as SsangYong - will launch its re-booted Actyon upper mid-sized SUV as a hybrid early in 2026.It will take on the likes of the Mitsubishi Outlander and Toyota RAV4 as a quirky Korean alternative, also sitting above the Torres in the brand’s range.A plug-less hybrid version bodes well, with plug-ins famously a hard sell for many, but the re-booted Korean upstart will have its work cut out for it in facing popular and affordable Chinese rivals like the Haval H6.Suzuki’s ageing Vitara will get a facelift in early 2026, expected to be the same overall look and feel as the car which has already launched in the also-right-hand-drive UK market.This Vitara scores tightened-up styling on the outside, a new multimedia screen on the inside now with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and, importantly, some form of hybrid powertrain.We don’t know whether we’ll get the 1.4-litre turbo mild-hybrid powertrain or the 1.5-litre full-hybrid powertrain, both available in Europe but there’s a case for both cars being needed by the brand in Australia.Jaecoo - the semi-premium spin-off from Chery, will launch its J5 small SUV in early 2026. It will score a standard 1.5-litre turbo option, but more importantly it will also be available as a 1.5-litre plug-less hybrid. A fully-electric version will arrive first as part of a three-pronged assault on the likes of the Hyundai Kona.It will be the brand’s cheapest hybrid and you can expect a similar hybrid powertrain to the Chery Tiggo 4, consisting of a reasonably punchy electric motor and a hybrid transaxle set-up at the front.The struggling Stellantis joint-venture is no doubt hoping its curious range-extender hybrids will give it the boost it needs in Australia, after a disappointing few months for its cost-leading C10 electric mid-size SUV.The B10 follow-up is in a more compact package, and the range-extender variant will pair an engine with an electric motor - although only the electric motor will drive the wheels. Specs are far from being locked in, so tune back in later next year for more on what you can expect - but this could also be one of the best small hybrid cars in Australia in terms of price.The Sealion 5 is a plug-in hybrid mid-size electric SUV, and if you’re thinking 'isn’t that what the Sealion 6 does already' you wouldn’t be wrong.The Sealion 5 is a more cost-leading offering by the Chinese brand, designed to help it leap up the sales charts again next year by muscling out rival offerings like the Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV.Expect a slightly smaller and more dressed-down alternative to the popular Sealion 6 at a more aggressive price-point, but with less impressive specifications, as part of BYD’s now two-prong assault on the title of best medium hybrid SUV in the sales charts.Toyota’s aspirational off-roader will finally line-up with the rest of the brand’s range by offering a plug-less hybrid variant in 2026.Hardly offering the middling performance of the rest of the hybrid badged Toyotas in Australia, the LC300 will pack a 3.5-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 borrowed from the US-market Tundra pick-up, which has also recently landed in Australia.Unlike other Toyota hybrids, it also gets a 10-speed automatic transmission rather than the ‘e-CVT’ electrified transaxle, and maintains the same 4x4 hardware, like mechanical linkages to each axle and a low-range transfer case and three differential locks in the GR Sport variant.Wey is GWM’s luxury brand, sitting above Haval in its pantheon of passenger cars and has in the past been ruled an export-to-Europe-only venture.However, the brand has recently locked-in an Australian launch, with its 80 people mover. Expect a range of Wey SUVs to follow in the future.A luxurious plug-in hybrid, the Wey 80 enters an increasingly heated premium people mover space, which will soon be dominated by Chinese challenger brands. In particular it will go head-to-head with GAC’s M8.The relatively popular Lexus ES sedan will get a next-gen overhaul in 2026, again providing it a new lease on life in a world of shrinking sedan market share.The new model moves into new design territory for Lexus, and is set to feature a battery-electric variant for the first time to live alongside what will presumably be a hybrid-only range when it arrives in Australia mid-year.Toyota’s RAV4 will finally score a plug-in hybrid variant in Australia before the end of 2026, despite a PHEV having been available overseas for some time.The new version will land in Australia in two trim levels, as a front-wheel drive and an all-wheel drive. It has a 22.7kWh battery pack, although the official driving range is yet to be revealed for our market.Will it be the best PHEV on the sales front in 2026? Time will tell.Jaecoo, another Chery spin-off brand, will add to its line-up of hybrid SUVs with a plug-in version of the J8.The J8 large SUV launched in 2025 notably missing any form of electrification, which is unusual for a Chinese challenger brand. It is also an unusual offering given its imposing dimensions and five-seat layout, given most in this class are seven-seaters.Specs are yet to be revealed, but given the J8 shares its platform with the Chery Tiggo 9 (currently one of few seven-seater hybrid options), don’t expect it to stray too far from that car’s range and specs.Another car from Chery’s techy Omoda sub-brand, the Omoda 7 could easily be one of the group’s best hybrid SUVs. A key mid-sized offering complete with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, the Omoda 7 is also set to debut a new styling language for the brand, as well as new features inside and out.Specs are yet to be locked in, but expect to learn more towards the middle of 2026.Want to know what other new models are due in 2026? Check out our rolling coverage by clicking on the links below. Best EVs Australia 2026Best Small Cars Australia 2026Best 4x4 Australia 2026Best Ute Australia 2026Best New Cars 2026 AustraliaBest SUVs Australia 2026Best Family Cars Australia 2026

2026 might be one of the best years for Australian families on the hunt for a new ride.

The electric car onslaught will continue in 2026 with the announcement of more than 20 new models in Australia.

In a milestone market share breakthrough vehicles manufactured in China accounted for one in five new cars sold in Australia in October this year.

Chery’s Jetour G700 has been priced in China as an emerging rival to the incoming BYD Dezna B8, Toyota Prado and Tank 500.The plug-in hybrid 4x4, which measures over five-meters long and over two meters wide, hits the Chinese market in five variants and it doesn’t have the kind of entry-level pricing Chery is usually known for.Starting from the equivalent of A$71,000 and spanning to a whopping $151,000 for the flagship 'Supreme Voyage Edition'.To account for this relatively high cost the G700 is equipped with a new plug-in hybrid system consisting of a 2.0-litre turbo four-cylinder engine, which produces 155kW/340Nm, and is mated to electric motors on each axle. The front axle mates engine power to an electric motor via a dedicated hybrid transmission (210kW/360Nm for the internal motor), while the rear axle has an independent motor drive unit producing 300kW/435Nm.Total combined system power is 560kW/795Nm, and the system functions closer to the range-extender-style hybrid system in BYD’s Shark 6 ute.The G700 maintains locking differentials on both the front and rear axles, as well as up to 970mm of wading depth. It also features various terrain modes and a hill descent control system, with variable height air suspension and adaptive damping.It has a 34.13kWh CATL battery providing up to 150km of range (to the more lenient CLTC protocol), while a 100-litre fuel tank has the brand claiming up to 1400km of combined range. Jetour said the G700 will consume as low as 7.95L/100km even when the battery is drained.The brand said it can even fast charge the battery in just 10 minutes thanks to ultra-fast 170kW DC charging speeds, and it can discharge via a vehicle-to-load system at up to 6.6kW.Inside, the G700 features a similar toughed-up design vibe to the Denza B5, with squared-off panels to match the boxy exterior look. The interior features a 15.6-inch multimedia touchscreen, but also a 35.4-inch digital instrument cluster, which spans the entire length of the dash. Outside, the 4x4 is equipped with either 18- or 20-inch wheels with off-road tyres.Chery’s rampant expansion in Australia (up 220 per cent year-on-year) has seen it also launch an array of its sub-brands, like Omoda, Jaecoo, and Lepas, however the off-road focused Jetour, which seems like a natural fit for the Australian market, has yet to be confirmed.Originally, this was said to be because it was focused on left-hand drive for the time being, but it seems as though this could change before long, with multiple executives from both Chery and Omoda/Jaecoo saying the brand is keen to get tougher 4x4 models on the market as soon as possible.