Introduction to the 2026 Jaecoo 8
The Chinese conglomerate Chery Group, consisting of Chery-branded vehicles as well as cars sold under the Jaecoo, Lepas and Omoda brands, is expanding at an exponential rate - with a heavy focus on SUVs. We reckon it's only a matter of time before it is introduced to the Irish market.
Many of these products share much in common across the three existing brands, so the latest addition to the fold, a flagship for the Jaecoo line called the 8 SHS-P, is closely related to both the Chery Tiggo 9 and the Omoda 9.
It's a big, three-row SUV with plug-in-hybrid power. Should Irish buyers look forward to its introduction?
Pros & cons of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
Pros:
• Superb interior
• Strong powertrain
• Excellent ride and refinement
Cons:
• Some interface quirks
• Third-row seats are small
• Not sold in Ireland... yet
Exterior & design of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
• 'Waterfall' grille a defining feature
• Long body, elegant styling
• 20-inch wheels as standard
Looks are ever and such a subjective matter, but we're going to pin our colours to the mast and say the 8 SHS-P is the finest hour yet for Jaecoo's team of stylists.
It features the same distinctive 'waterfall' front grille as seen on the Jaecoo 7 and (internal-combustion-powered) 5 models but integrates it that little bit more neatly into a sleek, svelte form that looks suitably premium and prestigious.
From its slim light clusters fore and aft (the latter linked by a full-width illuminated strip) to its clean flanks, complete with rising swage and waistlines but a tapering roof, this is a handsome machine - but yet clearly still a Jaecoo despite it all. And good looks along with a sense of a clearly defined corporate identity is a tricky aesthetic balancing act to pull off.
The wheels are uniformly 20-inch items on the Jaecoo 8 SHS-P, and there's an elegant, multi-spoke design as standard (which doesn't look a million miles away from the rims fitted to the related Chery Tiggo 9 PHEV), with an option to change them for another set of eye-catching 20s with a J-pattern design; J for Jaecoo, see?
Dimensions of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
Length: 4,820mm
Width: 1,930mm (excluding mirrors)
Height: 1,710mm
Wheelbase: 2,820mm
Paint colours for the 2026 Jaecoo 8
The only free colour ought to be Granite White, with Amazonite Blue, Pearl Silver, Basalt Black and Iced Slate Grey (the last of these being a matte-effect finish) likely to command a fee.
Furthermore, on all the colours above apart from (for obvious reasons) Basalt, a two-tone option which paints the roof black is offered as an upgrade on the base-level, seven-seat Luxury, and as standard on the range-topping six-seat Executive.
Interior, practicality, tech & comfort of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
• Six- or seven-seat layouts
• Luxurious appointments
• Loads of top-end tech
The 8 SHS-P is the first Jaecoo to offer more than five seats inside, but while Jaecoo is usually Chery's rugged, 4x4-alike brand, the firm itself is actually positioning the two variants of the J8 slightly differently.
The base-grade Luxury car has a full complement of seven seats, arranged in a 2-3-2 formation, but the higher Executive switches the middle row for a pair of truly sumptuous captain's chairs and a six-seat layout.
To that end, Jaecoo is positioning the 8 Luxury as the outdoorsy, lifestyle entrant to the range, while the 8 Executive is seen as more precisely that - an executive car designed for whisking people around in supreme comfort.
Generally, though, the standard of material finishing in the Jaecoo 8 is superb, as is the ergonomic correctness - this is a Chinese car with properly recessed switches for its windows, with separate buttons for adjusting the mirrors and the steering column, and with a smattering of physical switchgear controls.
This couples with a neater, less touchscreen-dominated integration of its onboard tech, leading to one of the most successful passenger cabins in the entire Chery group.
Getting comfortable in the driver's seat
Every version of the Jaecoo 8 has electrically adjustable front seats, with the driver's chair also coming with an extendable thigh support.
The seats are tweaked using clear, 'pictographic'-type switches on the door cards, not unlike you'd find in a Mercedes, while - as we've already mentioned - both the steering column (also electrically adjusted) and the powered door mirrors have their own, dedicated, physical controls.
Therefore, getting a comfortable driving position in the Jaecoo 8 is a doddle and, once you've got all the settings just as you want them, you simply have to tap the touchscreen a single time to save your preferences. I.e. there's no fiddling about trying to do the door mirrors with steering-wheel haptic pads, no wondering where the steering-column adjuster has got to - it's all just straightforward, intuitive and hence quite refreshing.
The driving position is commendable too, with a nice semi-command position not leaving you feeling too perched and lofty relative to the car's glasshouse.
Visibility in all directions is largely fine, although if someone in row three raises the head restraint then the view out of the tailgate screen through the rear-view mirror can be a little obstructed.
Infotainment and technology
Instead of going with a huge central touchscreen which does everything and then a small, letterbox-type driver's cluster crammed with way too much info in 6pt font, as is the way with many Chinese vehicles launching on the market these days, the Jaecoo 8 employs what we'd say is a more European-looking cabin - complete with two attractive 12.3-inch screens forming one large horizontal construct on the dashboard.
While some of the functionality (including the climate controls) remains on the central infotainment display, this interface works slickly. The driver also gets a crisp and informative head-up display.
Beyond this, there's plenty for technophiles to enjoy. A 14-speaker premium Sony sound system is included as standard, complete with headrest speakers in the front seats for starters.
The chairs at the front of the vehicle are heated and ventilated, and they come with a massage function too, while the outer seats in the second row of the seven-seat model are also heated and ventilated.
Multicolour ambient cabin lighting and a 50-watt wireless smartphone charging pad with a cooling function are further highlights, as are a 540-degree exterior camera system and a large, opening panoramic sunroof up top.
Practicality around the cabin
Up front, there are capacious door bins, a glovebox which opens with a simple mechanical latch, a big central cubby hidden beneath a split-lid armrest and two cupholders hiding beneath a pop-up flap.
There's also an under-dash storage area complete with twin USB-C ports, angled helpfully towards the front-seat passenger for slightly easier access, and a 12-volt socket too - so a useful amount of stowage.
Rear-seat passenger space
To be fair to Jaecoo, it refers to the 8 Luxury as a '5+2' and the Executive as a '4+2', saying that customer research shows many people who own what are ostensibly seven-seat SUVs rarely ever have more than five occupants onboard at any one time.
So the fact we'll say the third-row seating is pretty bijou in outlook will not come as a surprise to the company itself.
In the second row, though, whether you go for the Luxury or the Executive, there's masses of leg- and headroom. Indeed, Executive passengers in those captain's chairs also get a massage function to go with their heating and ventilating systems, so it's a really opulent place to spend some time.
While the floor in the second-row footwell is completely flat across the vehicle, there's a big lateral step up at the back of it where the seats are mounted - which means the cabin's floor in the third row is considerably higher.
The smaller seat squabs there are lower mounted as well. Hence why we think the third-row accommodation is only going to be satisfactory for children.
Accoutrements for passengers sitting in rows two and three of the Jaecoo 8 include more large door bins in the middle; a fold-out armrest with cupholders in the seven-seat version; electric-seat adjusters on the door cards in the six-seater; little rubberised trays in the door-handle pulls, useful for storing coins; elasticated pockets on all four outer seatbacks in rows one and two; air vents, heated seat and climate controls, along with one USB-A and one USB-C port below on the back of the central tunnel construct; and, in the very back, moulded single cupholder receptacles and a slot for smartphone devices in the outer plastic trims.
Fitting child seats to the Jaecoo 8
With just two ISOFIX positions on the outer chairs of row two (no matter which spec Jaecoo 8 you choose), this PHEV SUV is not overendowed with mounting points for child seats. That said, there are three-point belts in all the passenger locations, be there five or six in total depending on the spec, so belt-restrained seats can be fitted of course.
Boot space in the Jaecoo 8
With all seats in use (six or seven), Jaecoo says there's a still-useful 200 litres of boot space behind the third row. What we would say is that, because of the presence of the small fold-down chairs there, which are easy to raise and lower, there's not much in the 'boot area' other than a set of four lashing eyes mounted down low and a 12-volt socket sitting higher up.
Jaecoo would rather you focus on the fabulous 738 litres of capacity on offer with the 8 SHS-P in its two-row configuration. Obviously, as the captain's chairs in the Executive do not fold down then that's also the maximum stated figure for the six-seat Jaecoo 8, but the seven-seater can drop its middle row too and liberate up to a vast 2,021 litres of room.
Safety in the Jaecoo 8
The Jaecoo 8 hasn't yet been tested by Euro NCAP for safety, but as the smaller, cheaper Jaecoo 7 has and picked up the full five-star rating - plus, also factoring in that the J8 has 19 advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) fitted as standard - then we suspect the new PHEV SUV will be a highly safe form of transportation.
Performance of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
• Uses 1.5-litre T-GDi petrol engine
• System delivers up to 428hp
• Plush and relaxing to drive
There is just the one powertrain used in the Jaecoo 8, which is the 'SHS-P' plug-in-hybrid system also used in the Omoda 9 and the Chery Tiggo 9.
In the Jaecoo, it is running in the same slightly detuned state as found in the Chery, but even so 428hp and 580Nm are output figures not to be sniffed at.
As a result, despite weighing more than 2.2 tonnes in either specification, the 0-100km/h time is a respectable 5.8 seconds.
As with its automotive cousins, the Jaecoo 8 employs the group's advanced three-speed 'Dedicated Hybrid Transmission' gearbox and also a dual-electric-motor set-up that bestows all-wheel drive on the SUV, with the company's latest, turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine up front.
Driving the Jaecoo 8 PHEV AWD on the UK's roads
Words by Matt Robinson on 29 April 2026
We happened to drive a Jaecoo 7 PHEV down to the launch of the Jaecoo 8, and we only mention that fact because the juxtaposition of these two things shows just how tremendously far the Chinese company has come in such an extraordinarily short space of time.
Sure, the J8 is a more prestigious and expensive vehicle than the lacklustre J7, with the former tilting at some seriously high-end competitors with a much longer car-making heritage than China.
Even so, it's like they're machines from two different manufacturers, so stark is the dynamic difference between the two. It's a huge gulf in favour of the J8, belying the solitary digit's difference in their nameplates.
The chief weapons in the Jaecoo 8's armoury are its continuous damper control (CDC) adaptive shock absorbers, and the much more potent installation of the PHEV gear.
You notice as soon as you set off in the big SUV that it has lovely steering, full of positive weighting, consistent responses and even a small degree of feel.
It makes both placing the car to the millimetre on the road and knowing what the front tyres are up to at any given moment a breeze and permits the driver to form an almost-immediate rapport with the J8.
Then you notice the rolling refinement is exceptional, while the ride comfort is broadly brilliant. It's not perfect in this regard - heavily ridged sections can introduce a little background patter to the secondary ride comfort, while larger imperfections in the road's surface will cause the heavy unsprung mass of the 20-inch wheels to announce their presence with a muffled thud through the structure.
But the key word there is 'muffled'. In that the Jaecoo 8 is never loud or noisy no matter what it is doing, be that attempting to soak up potholed tarmac surfaces or doing town speeds or rolling along at motorway pace.
All of wind, tyre and suspension noise are impeccably subdued, and the general manners the Jaecoo 8 conveys are sophisticated.
Even the handling is amenable, with minimal body lean to report and lots of grip, but the J8's strength is really its effortless grace. Its robust powertrain is something that can give any car a truly prestige air, and it does precisely that job in the Jaecoo 8.
Mid-range response is epic, the throttle and brake pedals are calibrated sweetly, and you barely ever hear the exertions of the engine up front - even if you're pushing the throttle to the carpet.
About our only gripe here is that full acceleration is the sole situation in which you can sense the gearbox shuffling through its ratios, and there's a little hesitation at the changeover points as it does so, but aside from that, in all regards this is easily the most polished and capable vehicle that the Chery Group has put out yet.
Range, battery, charging and running costs of the 2026 Jaecoo 8
• Large battery for a PHEV
• Electric range of 134km
• Can charge at up to 70kW on DC
The Jaecoo 8 SHS-P has a very large battery pack for a plug-in hybrid like this, allowing for a competitive amount of all-electric driving range. In turn, with a full tank of petrol and totally topped-up battery, Jaecoo reckons its flagship SUV will have more than 1,130km of range from its combined resources.
Battery options and official range
For the Jaecoo 8, the company uses a large 34.46kWh lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery pack, which confers a 134km range on the SHS-P - making it one of the longest-legged PHEVs on the market, as seven-seat SUVs go.
It is this, alongside a large 70-litre fuel tank, which allows Jaecoo to claim the 8 can go in excess of 1,100km at a time, without having to resort to either a petrol pump or electric charging point.
Real-world range and efficiency of the Jaecoo 8
Interestingly, Jaecoo was reluctant to quote the 8 SHS-P's official WLTP economy figure, instead majoring on its 'depleted battery' consumption of 5.6 litres/100km.
For what it's worth, the WTLP rating is in the region of 1.4 litres/100km (201.8mpg), thanks to the giant battery on the J8, but the company is realistic about how owners will run the car primarily on electric power (i.e., they'll perform regular mains-charging sessions, either domestically or at their place of work) - and so says that something like 6.3 litres/100km is likely if you never charge it and do lots of local, stop-start driving, while in the region of 4.7 litres/100km is possible to achieve on longer, more fuel-efficient runs.
From what we could ascertain from the ever-shifting data on the instrument cluster, we were in the 5.6-6.3 litres/100km zone for our entire test loop. Mind, that was with a lot of battery power in reserve, so we might have hoped for more protracted electric running and therefore better returns, although we were also regularly sampling the power of the J8's drivetrain - so, all things considered, the consumption wasn't too bad.
Charging up the Jaecoo 8
Another feather in the cap of the Jaecoo 8 is that it has DC-charging capability. So while its peak rate of 6.6kW on an AC connection doesn't look that great, resulting in a 5.5-hour 0-100 per cent charging time, the 70kW DC maximum would see the SUV's battery go from 30-80 per cent in just 20 minutes. Useful if you stop at a motorway services for a coffee and comfort break, then, when on a longer journey.
Servicing the Jaecoo 8
Jaecoo's plug-in hybrids tend to run an annual, 16,000km service interval, so there's no reason to expect the 8 to fall outside this sort of schedule. In other markets, the Chinese firm offers service-inclusive bundles for a set fee, to complement the warranty.
Jaecoo 8 warranty
In other territories the company typically offers seven years and 160,000km of cover on its vehicles, which makes it one of the longest-lasting manufacturer warranties in the industry.
Irish pricing & rivals to the 2026 Jaecoo 8
• Jaecoo still not confirmed for Ireland
• But could be landing here soon
• Ambitious to target premium PHEV SUVs?
While there is no official word on the matter, we are expecting to hear before the end of 2026 what Jaecoo's - and indeed the entire Chery Group's - plans are for Ireland. Watch this space.
At the UK launch we were shown a comprehensive slide showing some of the rival machines the company would like Jaecoo 8 to take on, and naturally it was - when the competitors were adjusted to get as close to the standard equipment spec of the J8 as possible - a good chunk cheaper than any of them.
You have to question whether Jaecoo is being a little over-ambitious by zeroing in on the likes of the BMW X5 xDrive50e, Land Rover Defender P300e and Volvo XC90 T8, of course, or even the latter's smaller, five-seat-only XC60 relation.
But the other machines mentioned include such things as the PHEV variants of the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento (dimensionally speaking, the Jaecoo is almost an exact match for this Korean, for reference), Mazda CX-80, Nissan X-Trail, Honda CR-V and Skoda Kodiaq.
Verdict - should you lobby Jaecoo to offer the 8 PHEV AWD in Ireland?
Yes, 100 per cent. This is the sort of car that shows just how quickly China is capable of developing its products to better meet European consumer demand.
The Jaecoo 8 is everything the Jaecoo 7 isn't. It's luxurious, it's sweet to drive, it's quiet and comfortable, and instead of coming across as cheap and a bit nasty, it feels like a proper bargain - something that can offer the same sort of rewarding ownership experience as a polished European, Korean or Japanese PHEV SUV, only for quite a chunk less money.
The J8 isn't perfect in any regard, but it's a far more convincing, likeable and edifying thing to sit in and drive than practically anything we've yet seen from the Chery Group.
FAQs about the 2026 Jaecoo 8
Is the Jaecoo 8 SHS-P all-wheel drive?
Yes, it has electric motors on each axle and so is four-wheel drive. We took it on a brief off-roading course, and it performed admirably, although it wasn't the toughest route ever and the car was fitted with all-terrain tyres.
It has a locking rear differential, too, but aside from Hill Descent Control there isn't an awful lot of hardware onboard the J8 specifically for rough-roading purposes, beyond an Off-Road mode in the drive settings.
One thing it is good at, though, is ploughing through deep water: a 600mm wading depth is more than almost all its comparable contemporaries, save for anything with a Land Rover badge on it.
How many child seats can I fit in the Jaecoo 8?
There are two ISOFIX positions on the outer chairs of row two in the SUV, whether it's a Luxury or an Executive, although all the other passenger positions have full three-point seatbelts that could be used to secure child seats as well.
Does the Jaecoo 8 have vehicle-to-load capability?
Yes, it's on the options list, and if equipped then the J8 SHS-P can output 6.6kW of power through its V2L socket.
What's the difference between SHS-H and SHS-P in the Chery Group cars?
The first bit stands for 'Super Hybrid System' and simply means there's an electrified drivetrain of some sort in the mix, but not full electric power. The suffix 'H' is for the self-charging, non-plug-in hybrids (HEVs) in the Jaecoo family, while the 'P' is for plug-in hybrids, or PHEVs.
Are there going to be any other drivetrains offered for the Jaecoo 8?
As yet, nothing is confirmed. Whether it would get the SHS-H set-up in some format, we don't know, but it would have a lot less than 428hp if that eventuality were to come to pass. There's also no talk to this point about an all-electric Jaecoo E8 variant, either.
Want to know more about the 2026 Jaecoo 8?
If there's anything about the new Jaecoo 8 we've not covered, or you'd like help in choosing between it and other cars, you can avail of our expert advice service via the Ask Us Anything page.
