In the last few editions of Auto China, easily the largest auto show in the world now, one brand not yet present in the Philippines has stood out to us: iCar.

This brand, under the Chery group, originally debuted at the 2023 Shanghai edition of the show, and was clearly focusing on retro-styled SUVs that feature Chery’s electrification technology. Think Chrysler PT Cruiser meets Toyota FJ Cruiser and a Jeep Wrangler, and you’ll know what we mean when we first saw the iCar V23 and then the V27.

Later on, iCar would get rebranded as “iCaur” for export markets because, well, guess who owns the name iCar? Hint: they also make phones and computers.

So yes, iCaur (nee iCar) is coming to the Philippines, and it will be brought in by Chery’s subsidiary: Omoda & Jaecoo. They will bring in both of the vehicles under iCaur: the V23 and the V27.

The iCaur V23 is a 5-door compact SUV that is about 4.2 meters long and 1.9 meters wide. The vehicle will have about 210mm of ground clearance, which is respectable given its size. Given its lifestyle leaning, iCaur typically specs the V23 with ADAS, a large 15.4 touchscreen, and loads of other features, but what makes it interesting is that the V23 is a BEV with a battery capacity of up to 59.93 kWh. There are versions that are RWD (single rear motor) as well as dual-motor AWD.

The iCaur V27 is also a 5-door, 5-seat SUV but is significantly larger at just over 5 meters long and almost 2 meters wide. The V27 is definitely the more premium of the two and will have the technology features expected of it, but what differentiates the V27 is that it is a range-extender EV (REEV/EREV).

It has a 1.5-liter turbo gasoline engine that acts solely as a generator for either the single rear motor or dual-motor AWD. The RWD model typically comes with the 20.4 kWh battery, while the AWD has a 34.3 kWh battery.

Now, the pricing. We got a chance to meet with O&J Philippines Vice President Weijia Luo, and she shared that they are aiming for PHP 1.6M to PHP 1.9M for the V23, while they are targeting PHP 2.2M to PHP 2.6M for the V27.

It’s all very tentative, of course, but what’s clear is that these will be interesting propositions once customers get a chance to try out the vehicles after their launch next month.