Car trackers for a Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo or Jetour: built-in tracking and theft risk

Does Chery have built-in tracking?

Not as Chery South Africa describes its cars. Its own page calls the Chery SA App “a platform for sharing and communication” where owners “can book maintenance services online”, find the nearest dealer and book a test drive. It describes no live location, remote locking, geofencing or tracking.¹

The App Store listing goes a step further. Its release notes for version 2.1.0 say: “Now you can operate your vehicle directly through this application without opening the Carlinko application.” Carlinko has to be activated by an official dealer, using the same phone number or email as the app.² Chery doesn’t say what “operate your vehicle” includes, and none of the South African specification sheets we read, for the Tiggo 4 Cross, Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 Pro and Tiggo 9, mentions Carlinko or remote control. Ask the dealer what your car supports, and don’t count it as a tracker.^6,9,10,12

Do Omoda, Jaecoo and Jetour have tracking?

No. Omoda’s and Jaecoo’s South African sites mention no connected service, telematics, tracker or remote feature; Jaecoo’s “connect” page is only a way to “Get updates from JAECOO”.^19,20 Jetour’s home page and its Dashing and T2 pages are the same.⁴

Chery South Africa does publish an OMODA&JAECOO app for owners. Its App Store listing offers a community section where “you can meet other car owners”, test-drive bookings and maintenance appointments, and lists no location, locking or tracking feature. Jetour South Africa publishes no app of its own.^3,4

Jetour does list “Remote Engine Start” as standard on every Dashing and T2, but its brochures don’t say whether that works from the key or from an app, and they describe nothing that locates the car.^17,18

Are Cheries targeted by hijackers?

Some models have been named, partly because so many are sold. Chery’s own release for August 2026 says “The Tiggo 4 Pro was once again Chery’s largest volume contributor, with 2,297 units sold in August.”²¹ In February 2025 BusinessTech judged the Tiggo 4 Pro a “likely target” and the Tiggo 7 Pro “at risk”, but it reached that from sales figures: Fidelity, whose warning it was reporting, didn’t name the models.⁷

Cars.co.za named the “Chery Tiggo 4, 7 and 8” as at risk from “growing demand for parts” in January 2025, without citing a source.¹¹ East Coast Radio says “Chinese car brands, such as Chery and Haval, are also becoming increasingly popular among hijackers”, and puts the Tiggo 4 Pro and Tiggo 7 Pro on its list, again with no source or figure.⁸

The 2026 rankings leave Chery out: neither King Price’s top 10 nor Fidelity ADT’s February list names one.^22,23 Auto Trader’s February 2026 article lists “Haval and Chery” under “New Emerging Risks in 2026”, because of the demand for replacement parts that their sales create, but names no model and gives no figures.²⁴ We found no source naming an Omoda, Jaecoo or Jetour as a target, and none describing how any of these brands’ cars are stolen.

Chery Tiggo 8 Pro

The Tiggo 8 Pro Max sheet covers the Pro 1.6T Executive and the Pro Max 2.0T Executive in two- and all-wheel drive, all labelled MY23. Each has keyless start, “Passive-Entry-Passive-Start (PEPS)”, an anti-theft alarm and a smart-key power tailgate, and the sheet has no immobiliser line.¹⁰ The Tiggo 8 Pro LS sheet lists the same four items, again without an immobiliser.²⁵

Get tracker quotes for a Tiggo 8 Pro

Chery Tiggo 9

The Tiggo 9 comes as the Pinnacle and Vanguard, each in ICE and CSH form. All four have keyless start, an anti-theft immobiliser and a burglar alarm as standard, and neither the model pages nor the sheet mentions an app.¹² We found no source naming the Tiggo 9 as a target.

Get tracker quotes for a Tiggo 9

Omoda C5

Omoda’s South African specification table has one column, the C5 Street+, and the model page starts it at R339 900.²⁶ It lists “One Button Start / Keyless Start”, passive entry and an anti-theft alarm as standard, but no immobiliser line, and nothing connected.¹³

Get tracker quotes for an Omoda C5

Jaecoo J7

The J7 comes as the Vortex (R519 900) and Glacier (R579 900) in two-wheel drive and the Inferno (R679 900) in all-wheel drive, and there is also a J7 SHS. Its page describes opening the boot hands-free “if your hands are busy and the key is in your pocket”.¹⁴ Every J7 and the J7 SHS list an engine electronic immobiliser, a body anti-theft alarm and an anti-theft horn, and the remote key can open the boot and start the air conditioning.^16,27 The J7 SHS brochure lists keyless entry among its features.¹⁵

Get tracker quotes for a Jaecoo J7

Jaecoo J8

Jaecoo South Africa’s site lists the J5, J5 HEV, J5 EV, J7 Explore and J7 SHS Explore, and no J8, so we can’t confirm it is sold here or say what security it has.²⁰

Jetour Dashing

The Dashing comes as the Core with a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox and the Prestige and Prime with a seven-speed one, all with the 1.5 turbo. Each has a keyless start system, keyless entry on the driver’s door, remote engine start and “Electronic Engine Anti-Theft”; the brochure has no alarm line.¹⁷ TimesLIVE’s launch report lists “keyless entry and start” among the Prestige’s standard equipment.²⁸

Get tracker quotes for a Dashing

Jetour T2

The T2 Aspire, Xplora and Odyssey and the T2 i-DM hybrid share the Dashing’s keyless start, driver’s keyless entry, remote engine start and engine anti-theft, with no alarm listed. The Odyssey alone adds a “DVR Recorder”.¹⁸

Get tracker quotes for a T2

What to fit to a Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo or Jetour

A tracker with a recovery service, because none of these brands describes a way to find a stolen car. Most of the models here are keyless, which matters because of fob relaying: Toyota South Africa has described it as using “receivers and transmitters to remotely read the vehicle’s security key while in the possession of the owner”.²⁹ Our guide to keyless car theft covers what blocks it.

If your insurer requires a tracker, keep it working. Pineapple’s policy says theft or hijack claims “will not be paid” unless the device was “installed, maintained and operational”.³⁰

Our deals start from R99pm for a wireless recovery unit, or R149pm for a full insurance-approved tracker. Free installation, 36-month contract.

Pick your Chery, Omoda, Jaecoo or Jetour in the form to see the deals for it.

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