Fashions are cyclical, currently the Chinese are following a boxier look for SUVs, inspired by the iconic British jeep
Enigmatic title, isn’t it? But it will be simple to understand. I’ll explain in a moment. Before that…
From 2000 to 2003, I worked at a company called Matel. It was she who organized something well rooted in the memory of São Paulo residents in previous decades: the Free Automobile Fair, in Anhembi Park. Born to be a TV show, the business became the largest used and used car resale channel at the time, accumulating more than 5 thousand used cars for sale per Sunday in a single physical space. It exists to this day, under the name, now, of AutoShow.
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In addition to the Fair itself, Matel made some productions for TV, such as the program “Feira Livre do Automóvel (Free Automobile Fair), on Sunday mornings, on TV Gazeta, in addition to “AutoShop” and many other products that I ended up being hired to direct. The AutoShow program, for example, was born as an electronic magazine that aired in the same Gazeta, but on Sunday nights. He was proudly the precursor, so to speak, of the Auto Esporte program, which you know so well today.
I didn’t have much talent for TV. I made my evaluations, but I was always a text guy. Not video. But it was a very interesting experience, not least because my job was to coordinate the editorial content of the programs and guide the reporters. And I played that. It was also nice to have lived with the owner of Matel, the publicist Luiz Eduardo Ribeiro dos Santos. I remember well one of his pearls, shortly before embarking for the Frankfurt Motor Show, in 2001. “Every Salon has an essence. It points the way. Find out what this essence is and your journalistic coverage will be practically done,” he said prophetically.
Edu da Matel (as he was always known) was not wrong.
Time to return to the title: “Defending” was the essence of what I reaped at Auto China 2026, the Beijing auto show that I just returned to this week. This phenomenon is nothing more than the launch – and this is not a coincidence, but the essence – of several SUVs with the look of jeeps. When I mention the Defender, the intention here is to quickly position you on the aesthetic language of these new vehicles. Don’t fall into the temptation, earnestly, to think that Chinese brands are copying Land Rover’s most famous model. No, that’s not it. Especially because they have already understood that design defines brand personality and, today, no one copies it anymore. Each one has its proposal, although the philosophy is the same.
I saw this trend clearly: several Chinese brands created SUVs in the best Defender style, which technically you can also call “box design”. The straight, cubic shapes, so well represented historically by two illustrious world representatives (Land Rover Defender and Mercedes-Benz G-Class), will gain numerous variables made in China.
It is worth mentioning GWM here for having seen this market bias before the others, both with the Tank 300 and the Haval H9. And it is obvious that it is also worth mentioning the Jeep Renegade, a very Brazilian example of this aesthetically more rooted proposal. Whether this model fulfills what it promises is another story.
Everyone knows my restricted affection for SUVs, true executioners of much more useful, efficient and intelligent bodies, such as stations and minivans. I confess that this antipathy was much less active, however, with the “busy” versions. I don’t know if it’s because they refer to hatches, with a touch of sportiness, but I almost like them. Cars like the Chang Am Uni-T and the GAC Hyptec HT, without having to mention German models from premium brands, in my opinion, are too beautiful.
And these vehicles are a national fever in China. Unlike here in Brazil, where you see many more X1 and X3 units than X2 and X6, as well as finding more traditional Cayenne bodies than Cayenne Coupé, the Chinese, with the naked eye, tie this fight. There are many SUVs coupes on the streets. But a lot.
I speak of these models to say that the previous trend, it seems to me, was this: Chinese manufacturers have spent the last 5 years producing versions and more versions of new SUVs with this configuration in which the rear does not have a sudden drop, but a more “coupe” line. Every Chinese brand has its own (or yours).
I think, apparently, that this profusion has reached the limit. Whoever is running around will continue, especially in China, to be very well sold, thank you. But the freshness of the novelty, the so-called “essence of the Show”, as my former boss at Matel proclaimed, is called jeep SUV. Like Defender. Suddenly, Navarone’s Cannons (I reviewed that film on the plane and thought I had to use it here in the text) turned to the box design.
Several models were launched. I will certainly forget some, trying to mention only those who have brands working in Brazil. As I mentioned in the last column, China has 130 vehicle manufacturers. I will only talk about those that are (or will still arrive) in our country, which will naturally have repercussions (and a lot) on the fauna of SUVs sold here.
In addition to the GWM line (Tank 300 and Haval H9), plus Tank 400 and Haval H7, the Chevrolet Spark and the Jetour T1, T2 and G700, take note of models with this configuration that may (I’m not nailing, but just speculating) land here soon: BYD Ti7, GAC 7, Deepal G318 (from Changan) and Denza B5 and B8. In addition to them, you will also be able to see new brands debuting in the country soon with vehicles that follow this same style: iCar V23 and V27, IM Motors LS8, Dongfeng EQ-Reborn and BAIC BJ30 and BJ60.
Ah… and this movement seemed strong in the Chinese pavilions of Auto China 2026, that even the creator of the creatures had its own novelty: Jaguar Land Rover created a new brand called Freelander. No, it’s not to call him LR. It’s Freelander, a new brand. And guess the style of the first model?
For those who only had Tank until the other day… It’s a lot of jeep coming, isn’t it?
I have the most absolute conviction that, yes, they will be hugely successful in Brazil. My simplistic view is even scary, but I trust it. And the reason exasperates the mechanical gifts and cost-benefit of these vehicles, which will certainly follow the playbook of Chinese brands and arrive in the country with great combinations. What is the reason? It is unconscious. See if you agree with my thesis: for a few years now, we have been playing on a daily basis, with any theme and/or subject, referring to the game of “root or nutella”.
Any questions about which category these SUVs belong to? And I won’t even discuss the skills of each one here, because there wasn’t even time to evaluate one by one and much less the prices that each one will reach. I am only referring to the consumer’s predisposition to applaud the root jeep. You will surely never use 4×4, reduced, blocking and the barter. But if it’s roots, the people agree. Traditional and/or busy SUVs will be nutella. Want to bet?
