Great Wall Motors’ Tank won’t be the only Chinese brand putting out blocky, rugged off-roaders.
Chery Automobile Company sub-brand, Jetour, held an event in Fuzhou, China where it revealed its new product roll-out strategy, new Kunlun architecture and its rugged T-X Concept.
The concept, like the Tank 300, bears more than a passing resemblance to the Ford Bronco, though Chery hasn’t overtly copied a design like they’ve done in the past.
Founded in 2018, Jetour currently offers a range of of SUVs and crossovers and is looking to branch out into off-roaders and people movers with its upcoming models.
Jetour currently sells its vehicles in a number of Asian and Middle Eastern countries and it says it’ll launch new models every year from 2022.
Its T-X Concept is a large, boxy SUV concept that’ll inform Jetour’s upcoming T-series model lineup.
Powering the range will be a range of 1.6-litre, 2.0-litre and 3.0-litre turbocharged engines of undisclosed cylinder configuration, as well as hybrid and all-electric powertrains.
All T-Series models are said to have some version of mechanical and electronic four-wheel drive system with a differential lock.
The production Jetour T-Series lineup will cost between ¥150,000 (A$32,731) and ¥300,000 (A$65,463) with its first model, the T-1, set to launch in 2023.
Photo Credit: X Car
Jetour says the Kunlun architecture will be available with “two types of body structures, load-bearing or non-load-bearing” (translated).
The Chinese brand also indicates that pickup trucks can be built on the Kunlun architecture.
From the front, the T-X concept has a largely flat fascia with LED headlights, yellow front recovery hooks, and an illuminated Jetour badge in the grille. It all appears to be very Ford Bronco-like.
Around the side are a set of all-terrain tyres wrapped around black wheels with yellow accents, bulging wheel arches, textured side steps, flush door handles, rear-hinged rear doors and a roof rack platform with yellow highlights and an integrated LED light bar.
Photo Credit: X Car
The back is rather Land Rover Defender-esque with its boxy silhouette, side opening tailgate and LED tail lights. There’s also a square spare wheel cover like the all-electric Mercedes-Benz Concept EQG.
As this T-X is a concept, there isn’t a fully-functioning interior behind those heavily-tinted windows.
Chery, Jetour’s parent company, is best known to Australians for its brief run in our market in the early 2010s.
During its time it sold the J1 light hatch, the J3 small hatch and the J11 small SUV which was a rather blatant Toyota RAV4 clone.
MORE: 25 years of failures: The car brands that didn’t succeed in Australia, Part I
Chery J3 
Chery J1 
Chery J11
The Chinese automaker appears to be gearing up for another crack at the Australian market in 2022 after exiting in 2014 due to poor crash test scores, among other issues.
The company is currently hiring an Australian branding manager who would “assist the national director of Australia to carry out the marketing promotion plan and handling the PR cases”.
Chery said in a press release in December 2021 that it plans to launch its Omoda 5 SUV in Asia, South America, Australia, Africa and Europe, among other countries and regions in 2022.
