Fifty grand, minus twelve dollars. That is where the JAC Hunter PHEV opens, and somewhere in a BYD sales office a little Gen Z lost his wings.
The JAC Hunter PHEV opens in Hunter Pro 4×4 form from $49,988 plus on-road costs. The top-spec Hunter X asks $54,844, still plus on-roads. Both undercut the BYD Shark 6. The plug-in ute convinced the country a petrol-electric tray-back was the new black, opens at around $57,900 before you have paid a cent of rego. So a brand most people could not pick out of a police line-up has walked into the segment and priced the incumbent out by the thick end of eight grand. And, that to say nothing about the recent all-new Hilux release which wasn’t all new, and now looks ancient, but we digress.
JAC has reservations open now through JAC Motors Australia, with showrooms getting stock in August 2026. We covered the sub-$50,000 opening price when it first surfaced, and the full range and spec sheet before that. The sticker is the story here. The horsepower, we will come to, is where JAC gets ahead of itself.
There is a launch sweetener, because there always is. The first 1,000 buyers can hold a build with a fully refundable $1,000 deposit, and the first 1,000 who reserve and take delivery get either a free home charger or a $500 accessories voucher. Read that as a marketing hook rather than a gift. A refundable deposit costs the company nothing and gets your name on a list, and a home charger is the cheapest way to make a first-time buyer feel looked after. Nice touch, but do not confuse it with generosity.
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ABOVE: The 2026 Hunter
The Price That Started the Fight
The $49,988 has put the cat amongst the tradies. The Shark 6 we reviewed as the ute that makes diesel look ridiculous sits at roughly $57,900 before on-roads. The GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV climbs higher again at around $63,990. And the Ford Ranger XLT PHEV, which we found was built for torque and not for teasing, opens near a princely $71,990. The Hunter Pro undercuts the lot, and it undercuts the segment leader by thousands. That’s not a nudge up the bumper. The Chinese disrupters have exteriors designed decade, their cabins don’t feel 30 years old. Worse still, the prices of Japanese utes that feel sub-par are far higher.
It’s why Chinese origin badges account for around a third of the vehicles sold here. Once, that was Japan, and before that, Australia. It is a lesson that seems to go unnoticed over and over. Holden said they’d never chase price and now they’re gone. Honda and VW kept charging a premium even after they slipped from the top ten, to be replaced by 3 chinese brands. And finally, Tesla Model Y, an American EV made in China, has been number one for 2 months on the trot. An EV as top seller, and hybrids and EV vastly outselling ICE cars,is something that really should worry legacy brands. yet, on they plough on as if nothing has changed.
Hunter’s Braked towing is a 3,500kg, matching the diesel legacy brand offerings, and beating the Shark 6 which tops out around 2,500kg. Shark 6 has copped flak for it but it hasn’t stopped buyers from flocking to it in droves. That seems to suggest that towing is not the buyer’s biggest consideration, and perhaps never was.
Payload is 915kg which puts a decent load in that tray out the back.
The JAC Hunter PHEV Numbers, and the NEDC Asterisk
The JAC Hunter PHEV pairs a 2.0 turbo petrol four-pot making 370Nm with two electric motors, a 300Nm unit up front and 340Nm at the rear. The new breed of utes pull further ahead of the old fashioned fleet with 360kW of power. Compare that to Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, VW, Ford and Isuzu whose power rarely raises its head above 180kw, and whose torque may sneak over 500Nm with effort. JAC’s combined 360kw/1010Nm is class-leading among plug-in utes, and slays the agricultural diesels stone dead. That 360kW and the 1,010Nm are combined peak outputs when petrol and both motors happen to pull together, not a figure you will see sustained up a long climb with a van on the back. But, JAC got the leisure memo so that silly towing a van thing is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
The economy claim is 1.6L/100km and 1,005km of range sounds miraculous, and it is, but you must plug in to charge the battery. NEDC flatters plug-in economy and range to the point of fiction, because it counts the battery kilometres and barely stresses the engine. Up to 100km of EV-only range is the figure most likely to survive contact with reality, and even that depends on your right foot. Until we drive the JAC Hunter PHEV on real roads with a real load, treat the fuel and range figures as marketing, not measurement.
During testing, the JAC Hunter PHEV covered more than 100,000km of local torture before the first customer car was sold. Towing, load, heat, and on and off-road work, saw dynamics overseen by Australian tuning engineer Michael Barber, and every one of his recommendations implemented.
The Catch Nobody Prints on the Windscreen
A price sticker is half an ownership story, and the cheaper half at that. JAC is close to unknown here so resale is a guess. The dealer network is thin, and long-term reliability and parts supply are the questions even the Shark 6 and Ranger PHEV can only half-answer. Buying the cheapest plug-in ute on the market means being the person who finds out first whether the badge holds its money in three years. Some buyers will happily take that hit later for eight grand off at the start. Others will pay the BYD premium to sleep at night. Both are rational, and we have watched the Chinese brands rearrange the sales order often enough not to bet against this one landing.
Spend the extra $4,856 on the Hunter X and you get front and rear diff locks as standard, a black styling pack, heated front seats, a 4-way power passenger seat, a 360-degree camera, front parking sensors, power-folding mirrors, roof rails, privacy glass, puddle lamps, and a rear 220V socket. Rear parking sensors sit on every Hunter. Pro buyers can add the diff locks for $1,888, and the X can take a sunroof for $1,500. Sensible walk-up pricing, for once.
The JAC Hunter PHEV is the cheapest way into a plug-in ute by a big margin, with towing that shames the segment leader and power claims that kick the opposition in the pants. Showrooms open in August 2026. Whether it drives as well as it prices is the only question left, and it is the one JAC cannot answer with a deposit form. Bring it to a road we know, and we will tell you if the bargain is real.
JAC Hunter PHEV Versus the Plug-In Ute Field
| Hunter Pro | BYD Shark 6 | GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV | Ford Ranger XLT PHEV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price (from, plus ORC) | $49,988 | ~$57,900 | ~$63,990 | ~$71,990 |
| Combined power | 360kW | ~321kW | ~300kW | ~207kW |
| Combined torque | 1,010Nm | ~650Nm | ~750Nm | ~697Nm |
| EV-only range | Up to 100km | ~100km (NEDC) | ~115km (NEDC) | ~49km |
| Braked towing | 3,500kg | ~2,500kg | ~3,500kg | ~3,500kg |
| Economy claim | 1.6L/100km (NEDC) | ~2.0L/100km (NEDC) | ~1.7L/100km (NEDC) | ~2.9L/100km |
Hunter Pro and Hunter X at a Glance
| Spec | Hunter Pro | Hunter X |
|---|---|---|
| Price (from, plus ORC) | $49,988 | $54,844 |
| Diff locks | $1,888 option | Front and rear, standard |
| Heated front seats | No | Yes |
| 360-degree camera | No | Yes |
| Power-folding mirrors | No | Yes |
| Rear 220V socket | No | Yes |
| Sunroof | Not offered | $1,500 option |
More JAC Stories
- JAC Hunter PHEV Opens Under $50K With Big Ute Numbers
- 2026 JAC Hunter PHEV Ute Australia: 1,005km Range and Josh Addo-Carr Is Already a Fan
- New JAC Hunter PHEV Completes Initial Local Testing
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Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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