Roewe unveils AI-native Jiayue 07 SUV targeting 150,000 RMB class

AI-native architecture targets mainstream family SUV market

SAIC Motor's Roewe brand unveiled the Jiayue 07 on August 13, a mid-size five-seat SUV positioned in the 150,000 RMB (approx. $20,833) range — a segment where Chinese consumers increasingly expect intelligent driving capabilities alongside traditional priorities like space, range, and value.

The vehicle marks Roewe's shift toward what the company calls "AI-native" car development. Rather than bolting an AI assistant onto a conventional platform, Roewe says the Jiayue 07 was designed from the ground up around AI, with the system integrated into the vehicle's underlying architecture and user interaction model.

A new product-development philosophy

Zhang Liang, deputy general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle and general manager of sales, said the team felt confident about pricing because the Jiayue 07 is built on a new development model centered on three principles: scale, deep supply-chain integration, and globalization.

Scale, in this context, means shared architectures and modules across multiple future models and brands, spreading R&D costs. The "deep supply-chain integration" approach brings suppliers into the product-definition phase rather than engaging them later in the project, allowing them to contribute to user-needs analysis, competitiveness assessment, and cost optimization.

Qian Yang, general manager of Roewe's brand division, said the strategy reflects a broader industry reality: no single automaker can master every breakthrough alone in the intelligent-driving era. The most competitive products will come from companies that can best integrate partner capabilities.

Momenta R7 drives the intelligence story

The Jiayue 07 is equipped with smart-driving capabilities from Momenta, a Chinese autonomous-driving software firm. It will receive an OTA update to Momenta's R7 world-model version, which Momenta describes as moving the system from "seeing the world" to "understanding" and "predicting" it.

Tuo Yue, Momenta's global chief brand strategy officer, said the world-model approach lets the system infer causal relationships between objects — for example, spotting a helmet in a narrow gap between parked cars and predicting a cyclist may emerge, or noticing subtle door movements in a taxi and anticipating a passenger stepping out.

Features targeting families

Roewe's product keywords for the Jiayue 07 are "large, long-range, refined" — referring to interior space, battery range, and cabin quality. Features such as a refrigerated storage compartment, rear-seat entertainment screens, and zero-gravity reclining seats, typically found on higher-priced models, have been brought into this segment.

Design director Shao Jingfeng said the vehicle's styling focuses on conveying a sense of safety, relaxation, and vitality rather than exaggerated visual impact, aligning with the brand's aim to serve families whose single car must cover multiple life stages.

What's next for Roewe

Roewe sees the Jiayue 07 as more than a model launch — it is part of a broader repositioning away from its earlier image as a budget-oriented brand toward the "intelligent family car" segment. The company said the vehicle's real competitors are not other specific SUVs but evolving consumer expectations for how a family car should behave in the AI era.

Whether "AI-native" becomes a meaningful differentiator in a crowded Chinese EV market remains to be seen. The Jiayue 07's market reception will be the first test.