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Yes, while Oom Gert is still arguing on Facebook about how “hybrids can’t tow a caravan to Klerksdorp,” the Chery Tiggo 7 CSH quietly rolled into the 2025 TopGear South Africa Magazine Awards and walked off with the Eco Warrior of the Year title like it had just popped out for milk and bread.
And not because it hugged a tree. Because it embarrassed physics.
During real-world testing by TGSA, the Tiggo 7 CSH achieved nearly 1,300 km on a single tank. Not “lab conditions with a tailwind downhill.” Real roads. Real traffic. Real South Africa. It even exceeded Chery’s own claimed range and is now the reigning champion of the magazine’s 1-Tank Challenge.
That, ladies and gents, is not efficiency. That’s witchcraft with a warranty.
Hybrid power… but make it spicy
Under the bonnet lives a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engine, now assisted by an electric motor. Together they produce 265 kW and 530 N.m.
Read that again.
Five hundred and thirty Newton metres. In an eco warrior.
That’s not a yoga instructor… that’s a gym instructor named Deon who eats biltong for breakfast.
The 18.3 kWh battery allows up to 93 km of pure electric driving, meaning your daily commute can be done in near-silence while you smugly wave at petrol station queues. Combine that with the petrol engine and you’re looking at a total range of around 1,200 km… clearly conservative, given TopGear’s 1,300 km mic drop.
Fuel consumption? As low as 4.9 L/100 km.
For a family SUV.
Let that sink in while your neighbour’s V6 gulps like it’s at a Open-Bar.
Charging is equally painless. Plug it into a DC fast charger and you’re topped up in about 45 minutes to an hour. On AC? Between 4 and 8 hours. In other words… charge overnight, wake up, and carry on being environmentally smug.
Safe enough for the in-laws
Efficiency is lovely. Power is excellent. But what about safety?
The Tiggo 7 platform boasts a five-star Euro NCAP rating from Euro NCAP, which is basically the automotive equivalent of passing matric with seven+1 distinctions.
You get eight airbags, advanced driver-assistance systems, and a body structure made from around 60% high-strength steel, with key areas reinforced using 1,500 MPa hot-formed steel. That’s the sort of stuff normally reserved for vault doors and superhero origin stories.
The plug-in hybrid’s IP68-rated LFP battery is shielded by a high-strength underplate and features continuous monitoring with rapid power isolation in the event of a collision.
Translation? It’s built like a vault… but faster.
And it’s not done yet
As if winning Eco Warrior wasn’t enough, the Tiggo 7 CSH is also a finalist in the South African Car of the Year competition. One of 18 finalists, it’s now lining up for the big one… where judges will poke, prod, measure, and interrogate it like a suspect in a crime drama.
If it wins that too, someone at Chery is going to need a bigger trophy cabinet.
Tony Liu, CEO of Chery South Africa, summed it up neatly… this is real-world efficiency for real-world South Africans. Long distances. Rising fuel prices. Families. School runs. December trips to the coast.
And now… apparently… award shelves.
So here we are.
A plug-in hybrid SUV that outruns fuel bills, punches like a performance car, charges while you sleep, protects like a tank, and just walked off with Eco Warrior of the Year.
Eco-friendly? Yes!
Boring? Not a chance!
One tank. 1,300 km. Mic dropped.