Most car launches ask you to look at a car. JETOUR asked us to look at a journey.
That was the idea behind the 2026 JETOUR Global Technology Experience Day, which brought journalists from across the world to China from October 19 to 24 under a four-word theme: "Future Travel Starts Now." Over five days the phrase came back again and again, on stage, on screens and in conversations with JETOUR's engineers. By the end it felt less like a slogan and more like a thesis Yallamotor had been invited to test.
First stop: where the future is built
The journey began in Wuhu, the riverside city in Anhui Province that Chery, JETOUR's parent group, calls home. At the Chery R&D Center Park, more than 2,000 guests filled the Global Innovation Day.
The halls beyond the stage looked more like a technology expo than a motor show. A factory-built robotaxi, which Chery plans to scale to 100,000 units worldwide by 2030 with the Middle East firmly on its roadmap, sat a few steps from a home energy system that stores solar power and charges your car. Nearby stood the humanoid and service robots of Chery's AiMOGA division. In Chery's view, the future of travel is not only about what you drive. It is about everything connected to it.
That evening the idea moved outdoors. On Dalongwan Beach, on the banks of the Yangtze, the outdoor cooking and entertainment at the welcome dinner ran on power drawn from parked JETOUR vehicles. The car became a power source, a campsite and a place to gather.
The thinking behind "Travel+"
JETOUR wraps all of this into a philosophy it calls "Travel+", the ambition to be the car brand that best understands how people travel. In practice it rests on three technologies, and each solves a different problem for a different kind of traveller.
C-DM is the efficiency story. It is a hybrid system built around an engine that converts nearly 46 per cent of its fuel energy into work.
XWD is the confidence story. It is an automatic four-wheel-drive system that checks for wheel slip 100 times a second and picks the right mode for you, so even a novice can tackle a sand track.
GAIA is the ambition story. The platform beneath the premium G Series pairs a turbocharged engine with an electric motor and an 800V battery for 665 kW and 1,135 Nm, numbers JETOUR happily compares to a V12.
Into the mountains: proving it off-road
On October 21 the convoy climbed into Moganshan, the bamboo-covered hills of Zhejiang, where JETOUR had laid out a light and a hardcore off-road course, complete with a treasure hunt.
The G700 set the tone. It glided over gravel on its air suspension and walked over cross-axle ruts that would leave a lesser SUV spinning a wheel in the air. Its new sibling, the F700 hybrid pickup, matched it with a 1,300-litre bed in the back and the ability to tow 3,500 kg.
The water crossing: the moment of the trip
Then the trail met the water, and the day had its showstopper.
JETOUR's wading course, a flooded path followed by a submerged bridge, was the part of the programme that left everyone reaching for their phones. One after another, the big hybrids nosed down the bank and pushed forward until the water was climbing their doors, bow waves rolling out ahead of the bumpers, then emerged on the far side and carried on up the trail without hesitation.
What made it spectacular was not only the depth but how little drama there was inside the cabin. The G700 is rated to wade through 970 mm of water, close to a metre, and the F700 through 900 mm. Both carry batteries sealed to IP68, the same standard used for waterproof smartphones, so the hybrid system keeps delivering power with a river pressing against the body. The F700 even dries its own brake discs once it is back on land.
The T2, JETOUR's global best-seller with more than 600,000 sold, made the point in a different way. Its "7+X" system recognises the water and switches into wading mode by itself, and a 540° camera view gives the driver a clearer view of the route through the water.
Wading is usually reserved for specialists. Here it felt routine, and that was exactly JETOUR's point about the future of travel: capability that once demanded expertise, now handled by the car.
A slower pace
The next morning brought a quieter chapter: a boat ride across Xiazhu Lake and a few hours helping with ibis conservation in the wetlands. Travel, after all, is about the places we reach.
A proud moment for Yallamotor
The trip coincided with the 2026 Chery International User Summit, which gathered owners, dealers and partners from more than 130 countries under the banner "ECO-TECH for Our Future Life." There, Yallamotor was honoured with the "Innovation Co-Creator" award by the Chery group, whose brands include JETOUR, Exeed, Omoda & Jaecoo, iCAUR, Luxeed and Freelander.
For us, it recognises the work we do every day to give car buyers across the Middle East clear, honest and timely information.
What it means for the Middle East
JETOUR's focus on our region is already visible on our roads. JETOUR is a top-five brand in the UAE, Qatar and Egypt and the number one Chinese SUV brand in all three, with 2.5 million vehicles sold worldwide.
We left China convinced that JETOUR is no longer just a maker of sharply priced boxy SUVs. It is building a complete picture of how people will travel, with drivers in our part of the world very much in mind.
The future of travel, as JETOUR kept telling us, starts now. On the evidence of those five days, it may already have started.
