China's successor to the Holden Commodore ute: Chinese brand Jaecoo could be about to debut a new lifestyle-focused SUV-based ute to follow the 2026 Jaecoo J8 and J7 SUVs

Hot off the heels of MG confirming a dual-cab is headed our way, Chery could be bringing two workhorses Down Under with one wearing its Jaecoo premium sub-brand badging.

Earlier this year Chery Australia Chief Operating Officer, Lucas Harris, told CarsGuide, one of the utes planned would be a more lifestyle-focused machine.

"One is going to be more of a recreational style, you know, that sort of 600 or 700 kilo payload. So that'll be really interesting," he said.

Now it appears that lifestyle-focused ute will be a Jaecoo, which will be SUV-based in a similar vein to the old Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon utes which were based on passenger car underpinnings.

This differs from the ladder frame that underpins the big players such as the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux and what will form the basis for the tough Chery-branded workhorse.

This style of ute is taking the US by storm at the moment with the Ford Maverick a bonafide smash hit and the Hyundai Santa Cruz selling well, too.

“Utes are incredibly popular in Australia and it’s no secret that we’d love to get a ute. I think it’d be great to get a ute for both brands,” said Chery Australia public relations boss, Tim Krieger.

“Whatever we decide to bring in has to be right for the market, we can’t just bring in something for the sake of bringing in a ute.

“So it’s a lot of work being done behind the scenes between locally and the factory about what is the right combination in terms of powertrain, in terms of capability, and those conversations are ongoing.” he said.

Jaecoo Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Roy Munoz, said a ute would definitely fit the brand’s 'Wild Life' tagline, but any ute can’t just look the part - it would have to live up to the capability expected from the brand.

The J8 large SUV could underpin the Jaecoo ute, which means a 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine that makes 183kW and 385Nm paired to an eight speed auto.

It could also use the torque vectoring all-wheel-drive set-up from the J8 and the advanced adaptive suspension that can control each wheel independently.

It won’t be able to tackle tough off-road tracks but will be able to handle gravel and dirt roads and light off-roading and should benefit from drive modes that cater to different road surfaces such as sand, mud and snow.

Plug-in hybrid power could also be a possibility, which would see it potentially have 330kW and 700Nm on tap.