New Omoda 7 SHS plug-in hybrid SUV targets Toyota RAV4 with 745-mile range

The new Omoda 7 SHS (Super Hybrid System) is on track to arrive in UK showrooms in August, with the plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV set to take on best-sellers like the Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage. 

As its name suggests, the 4.6-metre long Omoda 7 will sit in between the Omoda 5 – the Chinese brand’s value-focused alternative to the Nissan Qashqai – and the flagship Omoda 9 that’s landing imminently as well, and be pitched more as a rival to the Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe. 

Like its stablemates, the Omoda 7 sports a distinctive, highly complex grille pattern, which is flanked by a relatively small but sharp set of headlights. Moving to the side, we can see flush door handles and that the roofline gently slopes towards the rear, giving the car a more athletic profile.

We’ve yet to see inside the Omoda 7, but it apparently features a 15.6-inch central touchscreen that can slide across the dashboard so the front passenger can get a better view. Meanwhile, the immersive ‘12+2-speaker’ sound system with ‘million-level tuning’ is said to offer a concert hall-like experience, and there’s active noise cancellation onboard, too.

The Omoda 7 features the same plug-in hybrid powertrain – or Super Hybrid System as the brand likes to call it – as the similarly-sized Jaecoo 7 SUV that arrived earlier this year. It’s designed to never let the car’s lithium-ion battery pack run out of juice, to maximise pure-electric driving capabilities.

Of course, it does this by having the 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine generate energy, and the other benefit is a range of 745 miles (1,200km) on a single tank of petrol and a fully charged battery. Combined power output for the PHEV setup is rated at 335bhp, however those are the only technical details confirmed so far.

In terms of pricing, as the Jaecoo 7 SHS is currently available from just over £35,000 and it’ll be pitched as the more premium of the two closely related cars. We expect, therefore,the Omoda 7 SHS to come in at around the £32,000 mark. For context, the plug-in hybrid versions of the Tucson and Sportage both cost from around £40,000, while the RAV4 PHEV now starts from over £44k. 

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