Chery Tiggo 9: 422bhp, seven-seat PHEV offers 91-mile EV range for £43k

Chery has added a new seven-seat plug-in hybrid SUV to its UK range, touting performance and range figures that outpace most rivals. 

The Chinese brand came to the UK earlier this year with a pair of mid-sized SUVs, the Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8, after sibling brands Omoda and Jaecoo had rapidly built up a sizeable market share.

Priced from £43,105, the Tiggo 9 undercuts the PHEV versions of the similarly sized Volkswagen Tayron and Kia Sorento to become one of the UK's cheapest seven-seat PHEVs - although the slightly smaller Tiggo 8 is cheaper still.

Closely related to the inbound Jaecoo 8, the Tiggo 9 uses an evolution of Chery's Super Hybrid drivetrain, which combines a 1.5-litre turbo petrol engine with a pair of electric motors and a starter-generator in the gearbox.

It's much more powerful than the brand's smaller SUVs, producing a combined 422bhp and 428b ft of torque to give a 0-62mph time of just 5.4sec - significantly quicker than its closest rivals. 

With a 34.5kWh battery under the floor, it's good for 91 miles of electric-only running on the WLTP cycle - eclipsing the Volkswagen Golf eHybrid to offer the longest EV range of any PHEV on sale.

Plus, with a maximum DC charging speed of 71kW, it can top up almost as quick as some fully electric cars: a 30-80% refill can take just 18 minutes.

Chery will sell the Tiggo 9 here in just one highly specified trim level: Summit. It comes with heated and ventilated seats front and rear (with massage function up front), dual-zone climate control, ambient lighting, a wireless phone charger, 20in alloy wheels and a 14-speaker Sony sound system.