Omoda Jaecoo Motor Philippines (OJPH) wowed everyone at the 10th Philippine International Motor Show (PIMS) when they previewed not one but two new vehicles: the J5 EV and the J8 flagship plug-in hybrid crossover SUV.

Then in July 2026, the Jaecoo J5 EV was officially launched with a suggested retail price of PHP 1.399 million and comes with a 7 kW wallbox charger for every purchase of the EV. More importantly, it's covered by a 7-year or 200,000 km vehicle warranty and an 8-year or 160,000 km warranty for the battery & electric motor.

With the J5 EV now available in the market, OJPH can now focus on the J8 PHEV. Heck, the upcoming plug-in hybrid was just approved by the Land Transportation Office (LTO) and was given homologation clearance. Based on recently released Memorandum Circulars, the J8 PHEV may likely be offered in just two variants instead of the original three variants the Department of Energy (DOE) recognized earlier this year.

Should there only be two variants, the J8 PHEV Luxury will serve as the 7-seater version, while the J8 PHEV Flagship will be offered as a six-seater, based on the initial specifications released by the DOE.

Both the Luxury and Flagship models will have a 1.5L turbocharged engine, but the former will only get a 19.43 kWh battery pack and a dual-traction motor. This gives the J8 PHEV Luxury a combined system output of 310 PS with 450 Nm of torque, an EV range of up to 90 km, and a combined range of up to 1,350 km in a FWD setup.

As for the J8 PHEV Flagship, it has an AWD setup with three electric motors, which gives it total system output of 428 PS and a healthy 580 Nm of torque. It also has an EV range of up to 169 km and a total system range of up to 1,300 km.

Since the Jaecoo J8 has now been approved by both the LTO and the DOE, the official launch of OJPH's newest PHEV may be inching closer. We'll be curious to know what the starting price of the J8 PHEV will be once revealed.