There is no doubt that JSW Group is on the verge of establishing an independent manufacturing presence in the country. This will be independent of SAIC’s partnership with MG Motor. In that regard, the company under the name of JSW Motors has set up a manufacturing facility in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra.
With an active partnership with China’s Chery Automobile, JSW Motors aims to bring a number of vehicles to the country and the Chery iCar V23 is one of them. It has again been spotted testing on public roads, revealing its size and road presence. It is likely to be launched by the end of this year. let’s take a closer look.
Chery iCar spotted testing in India
According to Managing Director Sajjan Jindal, JSW Motors’ first car for India will be a “muscle car”. It is rumored to be the Jetour T2 PHEV and will also be India’s first mainstream plug-in hybrid vehicle. After T2, JSW is expected to launch a few vehicles, including the iCar V23, which was recently spied and the Jaecoo J5, which was spotted testing yesterday.
Both these vehicles are likely to be CKD or locally manufactured and hence are being tested. The India-spec version of this vehicle will come with a new name. It is a strong looking neo-retro lifestyle electric SUV. It comes with a boxy silhouette like a traditional SUV and gets retro design cues like round headlights and flared wheel arches.
Even though JSW Motors’ first vehicle is expected to be a plug-in hybrid “muscle car”, which is speculated to be the Jetour T2, the iCar V23 is the vehicle that the company has officially teased. Thus new speculations have intensified whether the iCar V23 will be launched first. As seen in the video by automotive enthusiast Abhimanyu Komawar, we can see that this vehicle has a lot of road presence.
what to expect?
Apart from the Tata Nexon sub 4m SUV, the iCar V23 also looks quite long. Where dimensions are concerned, the Chery iCar V23 measures 4,220 mm in length, 1,915 mm in width, 1,845 mm in height and has a 2,730 mm long wheelbase. It has a straight windshield and boxy body, which, combined with a 2,730 mm long wheelbase, provides considerable interior volume.
Globally, the iCar V23 is a pure electric SUV that comes with multiple battery options. The lower variants have a sole electric motor driving the rear wheel, rated at 135 bhp and 180 Nm, with 47 kW to 60 kW battery pack options. The higher variants get up to 81.7 kWh of battery, driving two electric motors mated to an AWD setup with 212 bhp and 292 Nm total system output and a range of up to 501 km on a single charge (CLTC cycle).
Although an India launch is highly likely, no official timeline has been revealed yet. The company’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar facility will begin assembly operations from August 2026. When launched, the Chery iCar V23, under the JSW Motors branding, will likely rival other lifestyle electric SUVs like the Mahindra BE6.
