A Trip to Remember (We visit Jetour's Homebase)

My 8-day trip to China has been a rollercoaster ride both literally and figuratively, traveling From the bright lights of Shanghai to the biggest theme park in Wuhu China to an ancient, 1000-year-old Chinese village, to the majestic mountain of Huangshan.

None of the places that we visited looked quite like Binondo's Chinatown. The China that I saw was modern, efficient and forward-looking, in some ways a parallel to what I've seen in their automotive industry.

An entire building, flying Jetour's colors

China's blitzkrieg into the local automotive market is impressive. In the last 3 years, they have managed to transform their image and grab an ever-increasing slice of the Philippine motoring pie.

Not all Chinese brands are created equal of course. But those that are intent on succeeding here have really made their presence felt. They quickly respond to feedback and criticism and update their products accordingly. These updates can be in a matter of months, not years like what we've expected from their contemporaries.

Jetour seems to be one of these companies. And it's through their invitation that this trip happened.

Our first stop was the Shanghai auto show where we got to see Jetour's latest models. Jetour differentiates itself from its sister companies in that their lineup is geared more toward the export market. That's why they have these macho, off-road vehicles that you rarely see in China but you find plenty of in the Philippines. The T3 for example is a massive, body-on-frame SUV that makes the FJ cruiser look quite inadequate. It's not gonna sell well in China but it just might here.

The Jetour T3 looks like a roided up FJ cruiser

We also saw 2 very different variants of Jetour Dashing -A PHEV variant and a sport variant with big brakes, sport calipers, 22 inch wheels and a carbon fiber body kit.

As if the Dashing didn't look sporty enough, they come up with this souped-up version

Our 2nd stop was Jetour's manufacturing plant in Wuhu. Going around the plant, I felt like a kid in a toystore. It's a technological tour de force. It's almost fully automated, especially in the areas where the welding is done.
The plant is capable of making one vehicle every 2.3 hours and once the assembly line gets going, it can produce 60 vehicles every minute. It also houses its own crash test building, a track and an "NVH building" -a huge quiet room where you could hear a pin drop. It's where they check for rattles, creaks and other noises in the car. Quality control is done both manually as well as through AI.
Our 2nd day in Wuhu had nothing to do with Jetour or motoring in general, we went to an amusement park, one of the largest in China. Having a heavy and oversized head, I tend to avoid rollercoasters in general. Not sure if intentional but I was somehow pranked into riding one. Can't say that I enjoyed it at the moment but it's a pleasant memory now.

With other members of the Motoring media

The next day we traveled to Huangshan for a more intimate view of rural China. We first went to a 1000-year-old village where we tried to blend in with the locals.

The author trying to blend in with the locals

We then went up mount Huangshan on a particularly foggy day which gave the surroundings a surreal look. We capped off the day by sleeping in an RV in 9-degree weather.

On our last day in Huangshan, they showed us a pre-production model of the T2, an SUV that may make its way to our shores in the not-so-distant future. It's the size and shape of a Land Rover defender. Given the parent company's ties with Land Rover, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of Defender DNA in there. We took videos of the vehicle which will be uploaded to our youtube channel and they asked us for our feedback

The Jetour T2 may make its way to our shores in the not so distant future

It's hard to talk about China without the conversation being tainted with political color. But that is a topic for another lengthy essay.  And perhaps viewing everything through that lens limits our appreciation for things that I think deserve it.

This trip made me appreciate a lot of things. From the hospitality of the people from Jetour international and our local tour guides, to the new and old faces that I met from our delegation and of course my partners in crime who opted to stay for an additional 3 days, reygan, joo, mikko. 

This is a trip that I will not soon forget, perhaps ever.

Thank you