Chery Tiggo 9

FIRST DRIVE Flagship Chinese SUV offers astonishing value and impressive PHEV powertrain

- Alastair Crooks

CHERY'S plan to take on the UK market started with the Tiggo 7 - a family SUV designed to rival the Nissan Qashqai, followed by the larger Tiggo 8 SUV. Soon, we'll have the compact Tiggo 4 to act as an entry point, but here our focus is on the flagship - the new Tiggo 9.

Chery has kept the trim-level structure simple – the Tiggo 9 is exclusively a seven-seater, with one specification and one plugin hybrid powertrain. There are a few SUVs that occupy a similar space, such as the Peugeot 5008, Volkswagen Tayron, Skoda Kodiaq, Hyundai Santa Fe and Kia Sorento, but only the Peugeot, Hyundai and Kia come with seven seats and PHEV technology.

With a price tag of £43,105, the Chery is more than £15,000 cheaper than the Santa Fe and £5,000 less than the Sorento, so its closest rival is the cheapest 5008 PHEV, at £43,360.

It’s superbly appointed, despite its keen pricing. The single Summit trim brings you heated and ventilated seats front and rear, a powered tailgate, 540-degree cameras and automatic parking, plus a 14-speaker Sony stereo and a panoramic glass roof. If you want this kind of kit in the 5008, you'll be looking at the GT, which costs £3,835 more.