Jetour T2 named SA Car of the Year 2026
The SUV has is the first ever Chinese car to win the title and has sold over 3200 units since its launch in November 2025
Black News 
The Jetour T2 has become the first ever Chinese vehicle to win the South African Car of the Year title.
This marks as successful of a year as Jetour could have hoped for as the T2 has been an instant favourite since entering the South African market in November 2025.
To date, Jetour has sold over 3200 units in the country.
Part of its success is down to the value for money the car offers.
Priced from R569 900 to 679 900 for the petrol models, the T2 offers a luxurious interior, a blissful drive, a beautiful and boxy exterior and is capable of tackling different terrains quite comfortably.
There is now no doubt that those who called it a “pretender” due to its resemblance of the Land Rover Defender will have to eat their words.
The Jetour T2 is far from that. It is absolute value for money and the sales figures and now the award shows it.
It was also announced earlier this month that Jetour will begin local production of the T-Series in South Africa from 2027.
After Chery acquired Nissan’s plant in Rosslyn, brands like Jetour, iCAUR, Omoda, Jaecoo and Chery can all be expected to be produced in South Africa as they all fall under the same group.
The Volkswagen Golf 1.4 TSI came second and the Audi RS Q8 rounded off the podium at this year’s COTY awards.
Both German vehicles offer excellence in their respective categories, but overall, with the hype the T2 has, it just felt inevitable that it would take top spot.
The VW Golf also picked up the award for the compact category beating the likes of the BMW 2 series Gran Coupe and the BYD Dolphin Surf.
The Chinese were not done with winning for the night however as the extremely stylish Omoda C7 picked up the award for the family category.
The Jetour T2 picked up another award in the mild adventure category while the Land Rover Defender Octa won the adventure award.
Audi also scored two awards as the RS Q8 and A5 picked up the performance and premium awards respectively.
The Alfa Romeo Junior picked up the design award to cap off a very vast selection of winners for 2026.
