Chinese brand’s flagship SUV has double the power of its siblings and longer electric range than any other PHEV
Chery has added a new seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV to its UK range, touting performance and range figures that outpace most rivals.
The Chinese brand came to the UK earlier this year with a pair of mid-sized SUVs, the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8, after sibling brands Omoda and Jaecoo had rapidly built up a sizeable market share.
Priced from £43,105, the Tiggo 9 undercuts the PHEV versions of the similarly sized Volkswagen Tayron and Kia Sorento to become one of the UK’s cheapest seven-seat PHEVs – although the slightly smaller Tiggo 8 is cheaper still.
Closely related to the inbound Jaecoo 8, the Tiggo 9 uses an evolution of Chery’s Super Hybrid drivetrain, which combines a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine with a pair of electric motors and a starter-generator in the gearbox.
It’s much more powerful than the brand’s smaller SUVs, producing a combined 422bhp and 428b ft of torque to give a 0-62mph time of just 5.4sec – significantly quicker than its closest rivals.
With a 34.5kWh battery under the floor, it’s good for 91 miles of electric-only running on the WLTP cycle – eclipsing the Volkswagen Golf eHybrid to offer the longest EV range of any PHEV on sale.
Plus, with a maximum DC charging speed of 71kW, it can top up almost as quick as some fully electric cars: a 30-80% refill can take just 18 minutes.
Chery will sell the Tiggo 9 here in just one highly specified trim level: Summit. It comes with heated and ventilated seats front and rear (with massage function up front), dual-zone climate control, ambient lighting, a wireless phone charger, 20in alloy wheels and a 14-speaker Sony sound system.
The Tiggo 9 runs wireless smartphone mirroring through a large 15.6in central touchscreen, which sits next to a 10.25 digital driver’s display.
Chery said the Tiggo 9 has been “fine-tuned for UK and European roads” at its R&D centre in Germany and as a result promises “smooth, stable and confident performance across all conditions”.
Customer deliveries will begin in December.
The entry-level Tiggo 4 – a Jeep Avenger-sized crossover with a pure-petrol powertrain – will follow it next year.
