Jaecoo's J5 EV undercuts BYD's Atto 2 by up to 18 percent, but the range claim needs a haircut
NexGen Auto priced Pakistan's first locally assembled electric vehicle from Rs5,999,000. The 405 km range is on the most generous test cycle, and a stricter one gives about 295 km.
Pakistan's first locally assembled electric vehicle costs Rs5,999,000 to Rs6,699,000, and both prices sit below the BYD Atto 2. NexGen Auto, the Nishat Group company that assembles Jaecoo cars in Faisalabad, announced the J5 BEV on 6 November in two variants, Comfort at Rs5,999,000 and Premium at Rs6,699,000. The Premium costs 8 percent less than the Atto 2 and the Comfort 18 percent less. The range claim behind those prices is the part a buyer has to test.
Both prices are ex factory introductory prices, valid until 30 November 2026. Buyers book at an Omoda and Jaecoo dealership with Rs1,200,000 down for the Comfort or Rs1,500,000 for the Premium, and deliveries are due to begin in January 2027. Both variants carry a 49.5 kWh battery with a claimed range of up to 405 km, and an 11 kW home charger and a spare tyre come at no extra cost. The kits are assembled from complete knocked down parts at the Faisalabad plant, where the first J5 EV came off the line in October. NexGen Auto says its J5 hybrid and J7 plug in hybrid have together passed 15,000 locally assembled units since the brands arrived on 1 August 2025.
The price against its rivals
PakWheels lists the BYD Atto 2 at Rs7,290,000 and the MG4 EV Urban at Rs6,949,000. Against the Atto 2, the Premium is Rs591,000 cheaper, which is 8.1 percent, and the Comfort is Rs1,291,000 cheaper, or 17.7 percent. Against the MG4, the Premium saves Rs250,000, or 3.6 percent, and the Comfort saves Rs950,000, or 13.7 percent. These are list prices only. Size, equipment and battery capacity are not matched, so the gaps show where Jaecoo has placed the J5 and not what each buyer gets.
The two J5 variants are Rs700,000 apart, which is 11.7 percent of the Comfort price. Battery and claimed range are identical, so the extra money buys equipment. PakWheels details the Premium as a front mounted motor of 155 kW and 288 Nm, a claimed 0 to 100 km/h in 7.7 seconds, 11 kW AC and 130 kW DC charging, a 3.3 kW vehicle to load socket, a six year or 150,000 km vehicle warranty and an eight year or 160,000 km battery warranty. The Comfort's specification has not been published in the sources reviewed.
What 405 km means on the road
NEDC is the most generous of the common test cycles. PakWheels also cites 344 km on the stricter WLTP cycle and about 295 km on the US EPA cycle, which are 15 percent and 27 percent below the NEDC figure. Dividing the 49.5 kWh pack by each range gives the energy the car is assumed to use: 122 Wh a km on NEDC, 144 Wh on WLTP and 168 Wh on EPA. A planning figure nearer 300 km than 405 km is the prudent one, and it will be lower with the air conditioning running through a Pakistani summer or at motorway speeds.
Charging time follows from the pack size. At 11 kW, a 49.5 kWh pack takes 4.5 hours from empty, and about five hours if one allows 10 percent for charging losses, which is our assumption. That suits overnight charging at a house with a three phase supply, and it does not suit a flat on a single phase connection. At the 130 kW peak DC rate, a 10 to 80 percent top up is 34.65 kWh, or about 16 minutes. Peak rates are held only briefly, so the real figure will be longer, and NexGen Auto has not published charging times.
The battery warranty gives a further measure. A limit of 160,000 km equals about 395 full pack cycles at the NEDC range and about 540 at the EPA range, so the distance cap, not the eight years, is the figure a heavy user will reach first. The battery chemistry has not been stated in the sources reviewed, so the magazine does not estimate cell life.
The deposit is a cost of its own. Rs1,200,000 is 20.0 percent of the Comfort price and Rs1,500,000 is 22.4 percent of the Premium, and the money stays with the distributor from booking until deliveries begin in January. Early buyers lock in the introductory price in exchange. Buyers with home charging gain most, since they pay less than for the Atto 2 or MG4. Buyers without it, and anyone who needs more than about 300 km between charges, gain least. The price after 30 November has not been stated, and that date is the next one to watch.
