DUBAI, UAE – Nine months into 2026, one Chinese name keeps turning up near the top of the Gulf’s sales charts. The Jetour T2, the boxy four-wheel-drive SUV from Chery’s adventure brand, is the best-selling Chinese car in the UAE, Oman and Bahrain this year, and one of the three best-selling crossovers in Saudi Arabia.
It is doing it in a shrinking market. New-car sales are down by more than a fifth in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year, yet the T2 and its maker keep gaining ground.
UAE: fourth overall, and number one in May
From January to September 2026, the T2 ranked fourth among all models in the UAE, according to registration data compiled by Best Selling Cars Blog. No Chinese model sold more. The overall market fell 21.6% to 188,949 units over the same period.
In May the T2 went one better and became the best-selling vehicle in the country, with 4.5% of the market. It was the first time a Jetour had topped the UAE’s monthly chart. That same month, Chinese brands took a record 33.1% share of UAE sales.
The brand is riding the same wave. Jetour is the UAE’s fourth-biggest brand year-to-date with an 8.0% share, up 21.3%, and its larger G700 has climbed into the top ten models. The T2 was already the country’s number-three model in 2025, when its sales almost doubled.
Oman and Bahrain: top three in both
In Oman, the T2 is the third best-selling model from January to September, with sales up 29%. Jetour is the Sultanate’s second-biggest brand with a 9.3% share. In Bahrain, the T2 finished the first half of 2026 second overall, again with Jetour as the number-two brand.
Saudi Arabia: the biggest market, the closest fight
Saudi Arabia is the region’s largest car market and the T2’s toughest test. The Kingdom’s sales fell 23.5% to 313,458 units in the first half of 2026, and Jetour (+22.6%) and Haval (+48%) were the only top-ten brands to grow.
From January to September, the T2 sold 7,376 units in Saudi Arabia, according to Syarah. That makes it the third best-selling crossover in the Kingdom, behind the Nissan X-Trail (10,349) and Toyota RAV4 (8,033), and ahead of every other Chinese SUV.
Its main Chinese rival there is not an SUV but a sedan. The MG5 was the Kingdom’s top Chinese model in April with 1,099 units; in May the T2 took the lead back with 853 units, against 553 for the MG5 and 330 for the Changan CS75 Plus (Cartea). Over the whole of 2025, the T2 was Saudi Arabia’s best-selling Chinese model with 9,250 units, just ahead of the MG5 at 8,603.
Why the T2 is winning
- Size for the money: a 4.8-metre, full-time 4WD SUV with a 254 PS 2.0-litre turbo, from AED 146,000 in the UAE.
- The look: square, upright, off-road styling that fits Gulf desert weekends.
- Peace of mind: a 10-year / 1,000,000 km warranty in the UAE, backed by a large new service centre on Sheikh Zayed Road that opened in May 2026.
- Kit: a 15.6-inch touchscreen, 12-speaker Sony audio and a 540-degree camera as standard talking points.
We break down exactly what the T2 offers, and the trade-offs, in our Jetour T2 buyer’s guide.
The rest of the Chinese pack
The T2 does not have the field to itself. Haval (GWM) is the biggest Chinese brand in Saudi Arabia in the first half, with 11,017 units, ahead of Jetour on 10,183. Changan and MG remain strong in the Kingdom, while BYD grew 277% there and is the UAE’s fifth-biggest brand with a 4.6% share. Chinese brands held 14.1% of the Saudi market in the first half of 2026, up from 10.6% across 2025.
Next up: the G700 TopFire
Jetour is now pushing further up the off-road ladder. The G700 TopFire, a factory-customised version of the G700 developed with off-road specialist TopFire, made its Middle East debut in Saudi Arabia on 1 September 2026 and is now on sale in the UAE from AED 229,000 to AED 259,000, with pre-bookings open.
It keeps the G700’s plug-in hybrid powertrain (a 2.0-litre turbo with two electric motors, quoted at 904 PS and 1,135 Nm) and adds a lifted chassis, adjustable nitrogen dampers, forged wheels on all-terrain tyres, a roof rack and winch-ready bumpers. Wading depth rises to 950 mm. Jetour pitches it as a warrantied alternative to third-party desert conversions, and says it has now sold nearly 20,000 factory-customised vehicles worldwide across the T1, T2 and G700.
What comes next
Jetour says more than 500,000 T2s had been sold worldwide by June 2026, and an updated version is due in the Middle East in the fourth quarter. With three months of sales still to count, the T2 is on course to end 2026 as the region’s best-selling Chinese car.
Sources: Best Selling Cars Blog (UAE Jan–Sep, Oman Jan–Sep, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia H1 2026), Syarah (Saudi crossovers Jan–Sep 2026), Cartea (Saudi monthly Chinese-model data and brand totals), Jetour UAE, Jetour (G700 TopFire launch release), YallaMotor. Markets report on different schedules, so periods differ by country.
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