{"id":628121,"date":"2026-02-09T11:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=628121"},"modified":"2026-02-09T11:03:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T09:03:06","slug":"south-africas-first-electric-suv-under-r600000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/628121-south-africas-first-electric-suv-under-r600000.html","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s first electric SUV under R600,000"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chery Group’s subbrand iCaur is launching its first two models in South Africa in May 2026, with pricing expected to start from around R550,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chery initially started using the iCar name for a petrol-powered pickup truck in 2007. It was later used to refer to Chery’s digital ecosystem and its network selling new energy vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, iCar was spun off as Chery’s electric vehicle (EV) brand. The company slightly adjusted the name by adding a “u” in certain markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was reportedly to avoid legal troubles with Apple, which has preference for prefixing its product names with “i” and was still working on its own EV at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the way in which Chery designed the iCaur logo makes it easy to miss the extra “u”, and many people may still read it as “iCar.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who are Afrikaans and grew up in Pretoria, the pronunciation might be “iCaur” either way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chery initially said it wanted to launch its iCaur line-up in South Africa under another subbrand \u2014 Jaecoo \u2014 which had already started gaining traction in the country at that point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it changed course<\/a> in May 2025, shortly after announcing South Africa as one of the key iCaur markets at the 2025 Shanghai Auto Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand recently announced plans to roll out 20 dealers across South Africa to provide a “complete iCaur experience” from the outset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first two models that will be available in South Africa are the fully-electric iCaur V23 and a range-extended electric vehicle (REEV) called the 03T.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most affordable option will be the boxy V23, a Land Rover Defender-like SUV aimed at young urban drivers seeking an adventurous aesthetic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives of iCaur have told early testers that the V23’s indicative price in South Africa is R550,000 for the entry-level two-wheel drive version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would undercut the current most affordable electric SUV \u2014 the Geely EX5<\/a> \u2014 by roughly R150,000. It would also be the fourth-most affordable EV in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standout colours and extensive customisation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The entry-level V23 features a single motor on its rear axle with 100kW of power and 180Nm of torque, drawing energy from a 60kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battery offers 401km of range on the Chinese Light Testing Cycle (CLTC). The CLTC range is typically only about 80% of the more widely used Worldwide Harmonised Light-Duty Test Protocol (WLTP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WLTP range should therefore be closer to 330km, while a realistic highway speed range should be even 30% less, working out to 231km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That might limit entry-level use to urban areas for people who don’t want to stop every two hours on a road trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 85kW DC charging speed on the entry-level model should fill its battery from 10% to near full capacity in about an hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chery expects the all-wheel-drive V23 to be priced around R650,000, still cheaper than the current most affordable electric SUV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This iteration features dual motors \u2014 one per axle \u2014 with a combined output of 155kW and 292Nm of torque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has an 82kWh lithium NMC battery with 501km CLTC range, which should work out to about 411km on the WLTP cycle and 290km in highway driving. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “lounge-inspired” cabin of the V23 boasts a panoramic sunroof and a 12.8-inch floating touchscreen with software powered by a Snapdragon 8155 chip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All V23 models also boast vehicle-to-load (V2L), allowing users to power or charge other devices with up to 3.3kW output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key selling point for the model will be a wide range of bright colours and modular components, including quick-release fenders and bumpers that can be swapped without tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

iCaur said there will be up to 24 interchange pieces, enabling a broad level of customisation to reflect each driver’s personal style.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chery’s iCaur brand is poised to be a major disruptor in the EV market in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":628210,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[83779,99765,103196,103195,31960,103198,67290,99764,103197],"class_list":["post-628121","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-chery","tag-chery-group","tag-chery-icar","tag-chery-icaur","tag-electric-cars","tag-electric-suvs","tag-electric-vehicles-evs","tag-icar","tag-icaur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628121"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":628297,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628121\/revisions\/628297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}