We like
Excellent value for money; pleasant interior; potent powertrain; well-sorted battery management; solid on-paper stats; local tune has improved steering, handling

Room for improvement
Ride is harsh over quick-succession bumps; suffers from tyre noise; occasional powertrain lag; adaptive cruise control speed setting can be clumsy at times

Overview

 

IN May 2026, members of the Australian automotive media – a cohort which included GoAuto – were invited to drive a pre-production version of the JAC Hunter PHEV ute, the Chinese brand’s second model launched locally after the closely-related, diesel-powered T9.

 

We were impressed by its on-paper figures – including the outputs from its potent plug-in hybrid powertrain – its pleasant interior, its solid off-road prowess, and JAC’s promise of a sub-$50,000 starting price.

 

Perhaps unsurprisingly however – as we wrote – the pre-production Hunter was “a little rough around the edges, with light, vague steering, a ride that is arguably too firm, and noticeable wind, tyre, and mechanical noise”.

 

At least a few of these problems were likely present because the Hunter’s Australian-specific tune hadn’t been applied to the pre-pro examples.

 

JAC has been vocal about the Hunter’s local testing and tuning program…

 

Prior to its release, the JAC Hunter PHEV underwent a 100,000km local validation program – backed for a $10 million investment from the brand’s Chinese headquarters – and had a tune specifically created for the Australian market by Multimatic’s Michael Barber, which will soon also be rolled out in overseas markets.

 

But since the May drive day, GoAuto has had the chance to get behind a production-ready Hunter PHEV, now armed with the full engineering input of JAC’s local tuning talisman.

 

The base-model Hunter Pro wears a price tag $49,988 plus on-road costs – making it the cheapest plug-in hybrid ute on the Australian market. However, GoAuto tested the range-topping X variant, priced at $54,844 + ORC.

 

JAC’s new electrified ute shares the market with the GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV (from $57,490 driveaway), the Ford Ranger Hybrid (from $61,000 + ORC), and the volume-leading BYD Shark 6 (from $55,900 + ORC).

 

The Shark 6 in particular is a competitor that JAC has set firmly in its gunsights, as the Chinese state-owned brand is aiming to claim considerable market share in the PHEV ute space.

 

To recap, the Hunter PHEV’s power comes from a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and front and rear electric motors sourcing electricity from a 31.2kWh lithium iron phosphate battery (supporting a 15 to 80 per cent DC charging time of half an hour).

 

It also supports 3.3kW vehicle-to-load (V2L) functionality as well as an idle charging feature, which uses the internal combustion engine to recharge the battery to a pre-set level while the Hunter is left idling.

 

It has a combined system power output of 360kW while “combined driveline torque” is rated at 1010Nm.

 

Combined fuel efficiency on the NEDC cycle is 1.6 litres per 100km, with the Hunter also capable of 100km of electric only range and 1005km of total driving range.

 

Matching its rivals, the Hunter PHEV has a 750kg unbraked and a 3500kg braked towing capacity. Gross Vehicle Mass is rated at 3470kg and Gross Combined Mass at 6430kg. 

 

With tub dimensions measuring 1520mm long, 1590mm wide, and 470mm high, the JAC Hunter PHEV’s space is on par with its diesel-powered T9 counterpart. The Hunter PHEV has a 915kg payload.

 

The entry-level Hunter Pro comes as standard with power-adjustable and heated exterior mirrors, a heated rear window, a sports bar, a tailgate with lift assistance, a load box light, spray-in bedliner, and alloy 18-inch wheels.

 

Inside, there’s a 10.4-inch infotainment touchscreen (compatible with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity), a 10.25-inch digital instrument cluster, a leather-accented interior with leather seats, an eight-speaker sound system, a wireless phone charger, 64-colour ambient lighting, a six-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, and a six-way manually adjustable passenger’s seat.

 

Standard safety features include seven airbags, autonomous emergency braking, rear autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, integrated cruise assist, lane departure warning, lane keep and emergency lane keep assist, lane change assist, blind spot detection, forward and rear collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, speed limit assist, traffic sign recognition, traffic jam assistant, a driver monitoring system, intelligent high beam control, rear parking sensors, and a reversing camera.

 

Based on the JAC T9’s testing in 2024 and additional front offset and oblique pole tests to confirm the safety of its electrical systems and battery, the Hunter PHEV holds a five-star ANCAP rating. 

 

Over the Hunter Pro, the Hunter X gets black JAC badging and exterior mirrors (as opposed to the chrome badging and body-coloured mirrors found on the Pro), black wheels, rear privacy glass, power-folding exterior mirrors, a four-way power-adjustable passenger’s seat, heated front seats, front and rear parking sensors, front and rear differential locks (which is optional on the Hunter Pro), roof rails, welcome puddle lamps, a rear 220V accessory socket, a 360-degree camera, a “clear chassis” view, and a digital video recorder.

 

A powered sunroof is available optionally.

 

The JAC Hunter PHEV is backed by a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty (which includes for commercial use), seven years of roadside assist, and a ute-for-ute warranty program. It is also offered with a seven-year capped price servicing program.

 

Both JAC Hunter PHEV dual cab ute variants come with a full-size spare wheel.

 

But the question remains, has JAC’s local testing program produced a more polished Hunter PHEV? We’ve been road testing it to find out, and we’ve even taken it for a trip back to the very same roads we drove the pre-production model on to see what’s really changed…

 

Driving Impressions

 

Visually, nothing has notably changed from the pre-production to the final production model. This is a good thing, as the Hunter was already a tough-looking ute, with the aesthetic further accentuated by the X variant’s black wheels and styling elements.

 

The interior is also a strong suit of the pre-production Hunter carried over to the customer version, benefiting from pleasant materials, an intuitive infotainment touchscreen as well as physical buttons and decent storage options.

 

Rear seat space is also good if not necessarily mind-blowing. 

 

We’ve already mentioned the Hunter PHEV’s tub dimensions and payload, but we also appreciate its tailgate – which is light and easy to open and close – and its tub light, which can be turned on via the key.

 

The Hunter’s EV Priority mode is great for running around town. It feels responsive enough and perfectly potent for moving this two-and-a-half-tonne ute.

 

Its 360-degree camera is also great in the urban setting. It’s high res and very helpful when parking, especially for a vehicle of this size. We think it’s a must-have for the Hunter PHEV.

 

However, on Sydney’s roads, we found the Hunter’s ride a little jiggly at times – which isn’t necessarily uncommon for utes – but while it was far from intolerable, we didn’t find it quite as refined as other utes we’ve tested.

 

Tyre noise (for the record our test vehicle used Giti-branded highway tyres) isn’t much of a problem when the road surface is smooth, but that is rarely the case in Sydney. Even at slow speeds it’s often noticeable, certainly when the electric motors are doing most of the work without the ICE engine to drown it out.

 

Head out of the city and switch the powertrain mode to HEV – which prioritises the petrol engine – there’s considerable grunt at the disposal of your right foot, which is to be expected for Australia’s current most powerful plug-in hybrid ute.

 

Catch the powertrain at the right time and it’ll deliver that power quickly, which can prove useful when overtaking.

 

However, at other times, you’ll be met initially with quite a bit of lag, leaving the Hunter feeling sluggish before it delivers a big dollop of power.

 

Keen GoAuto readers might remember that Peats Ridge Road was used for the road drive loop for the Hunter’s pre-production preview drive day. With the production model, we returned with the same driver to observe the differences…

 

JAC says drivers can expect better steering, ride, body control, and high-speed stability among other improvements now that Michael Barber’s Australian specific tuning has been applied to the Hunter.

 

Its steering seems to be an improvement over the pre-production model, with a much more linear feel and appropriate weighting, making it easy to place on the road. It also communicates some road texture feedback, giving you a solid idea of road surface texture through your fingertips.

 

On a flowing, higher-speed road like Peats Ridge Road, the Hunter also felt stable and decently confidence inspiring.

 

Its ride, however, has not had quite the same leap forward. While its performance is fine when the going is smooth, rougher surfaces and quick succession bumps reveal a similar harshness to that experienced in town. 

 

During our return to Peats Ridge Road, we also continued to the twisting Old Pacific Highway. While Old Pac’ isn’t exactly the highest-speed road, the Hunter handled its technical turns with solid composure, especially for a vehicle of this class.

 

Something that did really impress us about the Hunter was not so much its fuel economy, but rather the way it can manage the battery’s state of charge…

 

During our Hunter testing, we set the battery’s target state of charge to 70 per cent, with the brake regen level set to High.

 

After our 200km+ round trip to Peats Ridge Road, the Hunter’s trip computer returned 9.6 litres per 100km, which isn’t bad for a vehicle this large but not necessarily impressive in isolation.

 

What was impressive was the battery started the journey at 57 per cent and ended it at 69 per cent.

 

The Hunter repeated a similar feat on a 29.1km drive from Sydney’s eastern suburbs to St Ives. The battery started the trip on 35 per cent and ended it with 49 per cent, with the ute returning 15.4L/100km.

 

Essentially, the Hunter allows you to take long drives – using the combustion engine to do the heavy lifting – while giving you plenty of electric driving range to use once you arrive at a town, which is exactly what a plug-in hybrid should do.

 

During our time with the Hunter PHEV, its ADAS systems proved to be largely non-intrusive and helpful when needed (although driver monitoring can occasionally be slightly annoying).

 

Lane centring and lane keeping interventions felt reasonable and the adaptive cruise control works as expected for the most part (save for its somewhat conservative tuning when it comes to maintaining speeds and distances). 

 

However, we did have a couple of hiccups when activating adaptive cruise, with the system occasionally defaulting to its previously set speed, which would sometimes be far too low or far too high, leaving us frantically readjusting.

 

Overall, has the Hunter PHEV’s local testing program made it perfect?

 

The short answer is no. Rougher surfaces and bumps found on Australian roads do expose some ride and NVH weaknesses. But they’re not intolerable shortcomings, nor are they necessarily a problem all the time, and the program has definitely improved the Hunter, and – judging by the reviews of its stablemate – it’s also an improvement over the T9.

 

While it’s not necessarily as refined as other available ute models, keep in mind that at the time of writing, JAC has only been selling utes in the Australian market for around two years, while some of its competitors have been at it for decades.

 

We suspect it’s a product that will mature over time.

 

Even with the ute we already have, the Hunter’s value-for-money proposition is very difficult to argue with. For less than a cab-chassis BYD Shark 6 you can get into a fully kitted-out X model.

 

GoAuto is yet to test the JAC Hunter PHEV while towing, which we suspect will be the litmus test for many buyers. But if you need a ute and value-for-money is your top priority, the Hunter makes a convincing case for itself.