ELECTRIC VEHICLES24 JUL 2026Jaecoo’s first EV coming to SA finds the sweet spot in the marketJaecoo’s new J5 BEV is poised to disrupt the South African electric vehicle market, offering a compelling middle ground between basic city hatchbacks and expensive mid-size…Eyaaz Matwadia4 min read

When it comes to electric vehicles in South Africa, we have largely been trapped between two extremes. On one side, you have the small, purely urban hatchbacks like the BYD Dolphin Surf and Geely E2.They are affordable and ideal for city commuting but they lack the necessary road presence South Africans adore and just lack the space that a family needs for a primary vehicle. On the other side of the spectrum sit the larger, feature-packed C-segment crossovers like the Geely E5 or the Volvo EX30.They offer the punch and the prestige but their price tags quickly push them well north of the R700 000 mark.

Enter the Jaecoo J5 BEV, which falls slap bang in the middle of the market as the brand has announced pricing at R549 900.Chery’s urban-adventure sub-brand has delivered something that quietly carves out a category entirely of its own. The Mail&Guardian was invited to Jaecoo’s head office for an exclusive sneak peek of the vehicle before its arrival in South Africa in August.The visit was more experimental to see if Jaecoo has got it right with the vehicle and the pricing. Before getting behind the wheel, you have to admire the design.While many Chinese manufacturers have adopted rounded, “puddle-duck” aerodynamic shapes for their EVs to chase drag coefficients, Jaecoo took a bolder approach.The J5 carries an upright, boxy stance with a closed-off front grille and continuous LED lighting that gives it a clean, rugged, yet refined look.It has that mini-Range Rover appeal a proper SUV silhouette rather than a jacked-up hatchback. I have to admit that I was not a fan of the waterfall grille present on the petrol version of the J5 and I quite like the clean and closed grille.