For years, the Ford Puma and the Nissan Qashqai have dominated the list of the most popular new cars sold in Britain.

But there’s a new favourite taking the road by storm this year – and it’s fronted with a badge that most of us won’t recognise.

Jaecoo, the SUV sub-brand from China’s largest car exporter Chery, has become hugely popular thanks to its £30,000 Jaecoo 7, which looks like a stylish – and expensive – Range Rover Velar.

The car, which has been dubbed the ‘Temu Range Rover’ on social media but is a big hit with families, costs a fraction of the price of one of the British luxury SUVs.

In March, the Jaecoo 7 was the most popular new car in the UK, and it became the most sold new car of 2026 to date, based on the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

A total of 10,064 Jaecoo 7s were registered in March alone, outperforming the Puma and Qashqai. Despite going on sale only in January 2025, 26,048 Jaecoo 7s were sold last year, making it the fourth most popular retail car in the UK. 

The SUV is proving especially popular among young middle-class mums who want the Range Rover look for half the money.

The Chinese car maker is now expanding its offering. Off the back of its recent success, Jaecoo this month brought out a brand-new SUV, the flagship Jaecoo 8 which is available as a six-seater ‘Executive’ or a seven-seater ‘Luxury’ SUV.

One of the biggest draws for these cars is their eye-catching price tags. The Jaecoo 7, which comes as a range-topping plug-in Super Hybrid (SHS-P), costs £35,175 – almost half the price of a £57,475 Range Rover Velar.

The £45,500 (seven-seater) or £47,500 (six-seater) SUVs are now set to build on the meteoric success of the five-seater.

Money Mail has asked owners of the Jaecoo 7 what it’s really like to drive the viral 4x4 and if it lives up to the hype – or if it’s cheaper for a reason.

Who buys the car?

Olivia Mundy, 27, of Oxfordshire, who runs a ‘First time mum’ TikTok account, and fiance Gary Lowe bought their Jaecoo 7s last year after seeing the SUV on TikTok.

The Jaecoo 7 went viral on social media when customers – usually women in their late 20s and early 30s like Olivia – claimed they’d ditched their aspirations of owning a Range Rover and turned to Jaecoo to drive up to the school gates in style.

The mother of one daughter and pre-school teacher says it is the ‘perfect’ car for mums: ‘The space, the boot size, the big screen, the safety features: it all works so well with having a little one.’

But younger buyers are also turning to the Jaecoo brand. Daisy Foulds, 21, says she bought her Jaecoo 7 on Valentine’s Day.

She says: ‘I’ve genuinely loved owning it so far. It fits into my life really naturally because it’s practical but still feels refined. At 21, I wanted something that felt a bit more elevated than your typical first cars, but still easy and comfortable to drive every day – and it does exactly that.’

And it’s not just women who are buying it – savvy male drivers are also proving zealous converts to the Jaecoo 7.

Money Mail reader Adrian Batchelor, 61, from Colchester in Essex, has been driving for more than 40 years and says he has owned ‘lots of really decent cars’, including Range Rovers, Jaguars and Maseratis.

He says he was curious about the Jaecoo 7 because it appeared to be ‘excellent value’ based on the levels of kit, features and equipment. And it only took one test drive to convince him to buy one.

Retired jeweller Adrian adds: ‘I test drove one in December last year and was completely sold. I HAD to have one.’

Why is it so popular?

The Jaecoo 7 has been so popular because buyers love its appealing price point. Olivia says: ‘I love the look of a Range Rover, but it’s not realistically in my budget, especially with mum life and everything else.

‘With the Jaecoo, I felt like I was getting a premium car for a fraction of the cost.’

Similarly, new mum Chantel Lord, 31, of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, who goes by Diaries of a Business Mum on TikTok and Instagram, says she swapped out her four-year-old Range Rover Sport Autobiography, which costs around £125,000 brand new, because she and her husband needed to save money as they were renovating a house.

Chantel, who runs a balloon decoration firm and has a 23-month-old daughter, says the Range Rover was ‘so expensive to run and service, and monthly payments were expensive too’.

So what differences are there? Chantel says that the Jaecoo tech is ‘just as good, if not better’ than the Range Rover.

The Jaecoo 7 is dressed to the nines with tech and comfort features – from a panoramic sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats, faux-leather, wireless phone charging, a 14.8-inch central infotainment screen (Luxury trim) and 10.25-inch digital driver cluster, to a 540-degree panoramic camera with transparent view – and even a karaoke machine.

However, Chantel, who is married to plastering business owner Alex Lane, admits the British model ‘feels like you’re driving a proper car’ whereas the Jaecoo ‘feels very lightweight’.

But Chantel doesn’t mind this if it means cheaper fuel bills: ‘The Jaecoo only costs £60 to fill up and this seems to last forever, versus about £100 for the Range Rover.’

About eight months down the ownership line, Chantel now confirms her Jaecoo 7 has done what they’d hoped. 

She says: ‘The money we’ve saved on insurance, tax, petrol and monthly instalments is more than a third of our previous monthly instalments.

‘So we’re chuffed with our Jaecoo 7 and the freedom it has given us to spend elsewhere.’

Daisy Foulds, like Chantel, has found the Super Hybrid System on the 7 SHS-P – which offers a total of 745 miles of range and EV-only range of 56 miles – has made ‘a noticeable difference’ in savings because she can ‘rely on electric for shorter journeys’.

The eye-catching Jaecoo design is also a big pull for buyers like Daisy and Chantel.

While it does look like the Range Rover Velar, the 7 SUV made its own immediate statement on Britain’s roads thanks to its huge waterfall grille.

Daisy, an operations manager, says the distinctiveness of the Jaecoo 7 is one of ‘the best parts’ of owning the car: ‘You don’t see it [the Jaecoo design] everywhere, so it always feels special to drive.’

And now the Jaecoo 8 is continuing that brand recognition by using that same waterfall grille as the focal part of its front design.

The interior design is a huge pull too – it’s Daisy’s ‘favourite aspect’. She says: ‘The interior is very clean, modern and well thought out, and it gives you that premium feel every time you get in.’

Are people snobs about the make?

While some buyers are embracing the ‘dupe’ label, the new breed of Chinese cars are sometimes derided as cheaper, knock-off versions of European favourites. So do owners feel their neighbours are turning their nose up at them?

Batchelor says: ‘Whenever I hear people denigrating Jaecoo – usually because it’s a Chinese brand, while they’re typing on their Chinese-made smartphones! – I can’t help wondering if these people have any experience of these cars at all. 

Most new cars are full of Chinese made components nowadays anyway. I’ll definitely buy a Chinese car again, based on my experience so far.’

Some fear Chinese cars won’t prove reliable in the long term and the servicing and after-sales care won’t hold up.

But Daisy says: ‘My experience so far, including aftercare, has been very smooth and reassuring.’

Jaecoo UK is continuing to grow its already 101-strong dealership network this year and all vehicles come with a 7-year/100,000-mile warranty (whichever comes first) and an 8-year/100,000-mile battery warranty (where applicable).

But Lawrence Whittaker, the chief executive of Warrantywise, one of Britain’s leading used car warranty providers, warns not all major components are covered.

He says: ‘The small print appears to contain a number of sub terms, and some important components are only covered for three years or 40,000 miles – including the alternator, fuel pump, starter motor and water pump.’

Owning a Chinese car does get you a lot of attention, owners say. Other drivers and members of the public will stop Jaecoo 7 owners and ask about the brand.

Chantel says: ‘I have been stopped many times by people asking about the car. They want to know how I find it.

‘The fact that we’re stopped by Range Rover and Tesla drivers asking about the Jaecoo, who say they are interested, is even better because it shows that so many people are done with overpriced cars. They want to scale back and go for more affordable options.’

Daisy also says the car turns a lot of heads: ‘It’s still a relatively new brand in the UK so people are curious.

‘I get asked what it is, what it’s like to own and where it’s from.’

And the connotations around the term ‘Temu Range Rover’ don’t bother her either.

She says: ‘I have heard the “Temu Range Rover” comment, and I do get a lot of comparisons to Range Rovers, particularly the Velar.

‘I don’t mind it at all – if anything, it highlights how strong the design is. People are naturally comparing it to cars in a much higher price bracket.’

Chantel’s two sisters and her parents have all ditched their Range Rovers for the Jaecoo 7.

She adds: ‘We have three different friends who’ve swapped to a Jaecoo so we’d happily recommend it to friends and family.’ 

So what does our expert think of the Jaecoo 7?

I first drove a Jaecoo 7 in March last year, from Scotland to the Lake District, to see if it had the substance to tempt buyers away from big-name European SUVs, writes Freda Lewis-Stempel.

Jaecoo positions itself as a premium alternative and wants to challenge the likes of Audi, BMW and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).

That seems like a tall order but the Jaecoo 7 has an ace up its sleeve. It massively undercuts rivals on price. Buying a new Jaecoo 7 outright costs from about £30,000 to £35,000, but you can get one on lease deals for about £250 per month.

My verdict is that while the Jaecoo 7 is not thrilling to drive, you’ll struggle to find something of its size offering similar comfort and features for anywhere near the price.

But is the Jaecoo 7 a good car? If you put driving enjoyment top of your list, then you should look elsewhere. I would describe it as ‘underwhelming at best’.

My main criticisms are the ride quality and steering that lacks feedback, although the Jaecoo is ‘sprightly enough’ with an 8.5 second 0 to 62mph time, thanks to its 201bhp.

It scores better on practicalities. I tested the top of the range Jaecoo 7 SHS plug-in hybrid, which married a 1.5-litre petrol engine with an 18.7kWh battery.

It has a quiet cabin that makes cruising enjoyable and is spacious and ideal for family life.

The interior is certainly not Audi, BMW, Mercedes or JLR quality but it doesn’t feel ‘cheap’ and has decent technology. One drawback is that a Jaecoo can be more expensive to insure than a European rival due to cost and availability of parts.

And, some important components, such as the alternator, fuel pump, starter motor and water pump, aren’t included in its seven-year warranty and instead get four years of cover.

When it costs so little, I wondered if buyers would care if it is made by a Chinese brand? Now it’s Britain’s best-selling car, we know the answer.