![\"iCar](\"https:\/\/www.globalvillagespace.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/reviving-classics-meet-icaur-the-bold-new-contender-in-off-roading.jpg\" "\\"iCar")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n iCar majors on customisation: this example mimics Land Rover’s Camel Trophy competition cars<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Chery-owned 4×4 brand’s ‘salute to the classics’ will now look to rival them \u2013 and on their home turf, too<\/p>\n
\nWhen Renault<\/a>\u00a0Group\u00a0CEO Luca de Meo visited Chery earlier this year, he was shown the full line-up of cars from its multiple brands.<\/p>\n
Like most large Chinese car companies, Chery\u2019s brands attack nearly all sectors, from practical family SUVs to slippery electric premium saloons.<\/p>\n
But the car the Italian executive walked up to first was the chunky little iCar V23 off-roader. \u201cHe just loved the concept,\u201d according to someone who watched his reaction.<\/p>\n
Global CEOs going on fact-finding trips to China is a common phenomenon these days.\u00a0Witness Ferrari<\/a> CEO Benedetto Vigna\u2019s recent visit to Leapmotor<\/a>. De Meo\u2019s visit may or may not indicate a broader tie-up between Renault and Chery, but it does show how iCar is prompting visceral reactions with a smart take on an age-old concept heading right back to the original Land Rover and Willys Jeep.<\/p>\n
If Brits know Chery at all, it\u2019s mainly from the new Omoda<\/a> and Jaecoo<\/a> brands, which are steadily heading up the sales charts with keenly priced\u00a0petrol, plug-in hybrid and electric\u00a0SUVs<\/a>.<\/p>\n
It also has a tie-up with JLR in China<\/a>, giving it insight into the world\u2019s foremost expert in off-roaders.<\/p>\n
Chery\u2019s export ambitions don\u2019t stop at Jaecoo and Omoda. Also heading to the UK as part of a global push are the new Lepas value brand<\/a>, models in Chery\u2019s Tiggo family SUV range and iCar \u2013\u00a0which has had to be renamed iCaur to avoid trademark battles with Apple. It makes more sense on the badge, where the \u2018a\u2019 links cursively with the \u2018r\u2019 to form the \u2018u\u2019.<\/p>\n
Sales of both fully electric and range-extender\u00a0EVs from the brand are expected to start here next year as part of iCaur\u2019s ambition to open 2000 showrooms in 100 countries within three years.<\/p>\n
Chinese brands have a history of overpromising and underdelivering,\u00a0but Chery is so far proving an outlier, having gone from zero Omoda and Jaecoo dealers at the start of 2024 to just under 80 now in the UK, with 120 planned for the end of the year.<\/p>\n
The electric-only V23 is the iCar global launch product and now defines the brand, after a false start and a swift change of direction to focus on chunky, playful, characterful go-anywhere utility vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The off-roader’s footprint is small, at 4220mm long\u00a0and almost as tall as it is wide. The windscreen is nearly flat and the slab sides point straight up, giving plenty of room inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The clamshell bonnet, inboard round headlights, chunky wheel arches and blocky details are at once familiar without directly referencing any previous vehicle.<\/p>\n
Brand CEO Su Jun described the look \u201ca salute to the classics\u201d at the recent Shanghai motor show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe box style is a classic style,\u201d Su told Autocar on a recent trip. \u201cSuzuki Jimny<\/a>, Jeep<\/a>, [Mercedes]\u00a0G-Class<\/a>\u2026 It has some of their elements mixed together\u00a0but doesn\u2019t copy them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those round headlights inboard lights are a reference to the 1960s Chinese army BAW BJ212 \u2018Beijing Jeep\u2019 that replaced a Russian Gaz.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The V23 costs from the equivalent of just \u00a311,200 in China, that for the two-wheel-drive version with a 60kWh battery, thanks mainly to the country\u2019s fierce pricing environment, but even double that would represent value in the UK.<\/p>\n
More models are coming. Autocar was given a sneak preview of the 4.8m-long V25, launching later this year, which will have the company\u2019s first range-extender powertrain:\u00a0a 1.5-litre\u00a0turbo engine generating energy for\u00a0a 22kWh or 33kWh battery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As with the V23, we\u2019re promised the off-road ability will cash the cheque written by its go-anywhere look, with more expensive versions coming with twin electric motors to make it four-wheel-drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
UK sales are slated from 2026, when the V25 will pose a serious threat to the ambitions of Ineos, which had to shelve plans for its own range-extender EV, as well as attacking the Toyota Land Cruiser and planned new Land Rover ‘Defender Sport’.<\/p>\n
In 2027 we can expect\u00a0the V21, a small Jeep Avenger rival that will be electric-only and could offer a two-door body. Also in 2027, a large SUV badged V29 is scheduled to provide a cut-priced alternative to the Defender and Ineos Grenadier.<\/p>\n
iCar is capitalising\u00a0on a blooming trend for chunky off-roaders in China, sparked by the Defender and Ford Bronco and then fuelled by the sweeping fashion for outdoor activities, partly as people dreamed of escape during the long confinement of the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n
Foreign automotive executives have watched amazed at the transformation of the car market to accommodate new tastes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lived in China for several years, and there were many trends we see now that we thought would not happen in China,\u201d BMW\u00a0product chief Bernd K\u00f6rber told Autocar.<\/p>\n
\u201cTen years ago, it was unthinkable that the Chinese would move into camping,\u00a0but [now]\u00a0it’s a huge trend\u00a0and there’s a huge affinity for outdoor car concepts.”<\/p>\n