Mystery JAC SUV likely for Australia

JAC Motors Australia managing director Ahmed Mahmoud has teased the arrival of a yet-to-be-globally-unveiled “purpose built” SUV for the Australian market, while conversations around the ute-based JS9 have also advanced since the model was revealed to be “under study” for local release in May.

Earlier this year at a preview drive event for the JAC Hunter PHEV, Mr Mahmoud told GoAuto that an SUV based on the T9 ute platform – highly likely to be badged JS9 – was being evaluated for the Australian market along with more “traditional” SUV models.

During a recent JAC media event Mr Mahmoud revealed that conversations surrounding both SUV types have since progressed.

“There’s definitely some more progressed conversations around the SUV. We’ve seen a couple of versions of it,” Mr Mahmoud told GoAuto.

“We have to make sure that it’s going to meet and exceed the needs here.

“The good news is we’re also in advanced conversations or discussions, if you like, around a purpose-built SUV, so not a ute-based SUV as well. So watch this space.”

When asked if the “purpose-built SUV” model currently exists within JAC’s global portfolio, Mr Mahmoud told GoAuto that it does not, and that it is instead a “whole new model”.

While no details have been revealed about the new mystery SUV – including the specific segment it competes in – the large three-row SUV space is presumably covered by the JS9, making the small or medium segments its likelier home as both are among the most popular in the Australian market.

Although the mystery model’s potential rivals remain unknown, the JS9 appears poised to share the ute-based SUV market with the likes of the Isuzu MU-X and 2025’s segment volume leader, the Ford Everest.

Beyond the SUV pair, Mr Mahmoud told GoAuto earlier this year that other models from JAC’s global model range could be brought to Australia provided that it made commercial sense and that they could be released in right-hand drive.

In the lead-up to the Hunter PHEV’s release, JAC has been very vocal about its extensive local validation program.

Involving engineering firms Multimatic and Segula Technologies and backed by a $10 million investment from JAC head office in China, the program saw the Hunter PHEV complete 100,000km of local testing.

Multimatic’s technical director of vehicle dynamics Michael Barber – who developed the Hunter’s Australian tune – made “around 76” recommendations for the Hunter PHEV according to a JAC Motors Australia spokesperson, all of which were implemented for the final production model.

The new SUVs would each receive a similar local testing treatment, according to Mr Mahmoud.

“We would be silly not to make sure that everything that we’ve done on (the Hunter PHEV) – particularly if it proves to be the success point for our car – that we wouldn’t adopt the same philosophy of heavy, extended third-party local testing, so that is definitely the intention," he said.

Mr Mahmoud added that the aim was “definitely not to get something that’s off the factory and put it into our dealerships without the appropriate testing”.

While more models for JAC’s Australian line-up are seemingly on the horizon, the Chinese brand’s current portfolio comprises the diesel-powered T9 and the recently launched Hunter plug-in hybrid ute duo, the latter being its second model launched Down Under since arriving in 2024.