More than thirty Chinese made Jaecoo SUVs worth £900,000 go up in flames at Southampton docks
33 Jaecoo SUVs worth more than £900,000 were destroyed in a fire at Southampton docks.
Firefighters were called to an area on West Bay Road at around 4.20am today after locals reported an ‘explosion’.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service said 33 hybrid vehicles were involved.
The cars are believed to be electric E5 vehicles from Chinese brand Jaecoo; Prices start from £27,505 per piece.
Pictures show scores of vehicles with significant damage, some completely gutted, and huge clouds of black smoke filling the air.
The fire brigade said that there were 10 fire trucks, two water carriers, an aerial ladder platform and support vehicles at the scene at the peak of the incident.
Citizens were warned to keep windows and doors closed. No injuries were reported.
A nearby local, who asked not to be named, said: Daily Echo: ‘He woke me up around 3.30am.
33 Jaecoo SUV hybrid vehicles worth more than £900,000 were destroyed in a fire at Southampton docks.
Large clouds of smoke filled the air after a fire broke out in the early hours of Wednesday
‘After a while I got up to find out what was causing all the noise and that’s when I saw the smoke.
‘I called the fire brigade around 4.20am and was told the incident had already been reported. Car horns and explosions were quite loud.
‘At around 5.40am the fire appeared to have been extinguished. The smoke was very thick and had an acidic smell.’
The cause of the fire is currently unknown.
Associated British Ports, which operates the shipyard, said: ‘A fire broke out at a vehicle storage facility in the Western Docks area of the Port of Southampton. All personnel are securely accounted for.
The fire was brought under control and approximately 25 vehicles were affected.
‘ABP staff support incident response services in their work.’
The company’s website describes Southampton docks as ‘the UK’s number one vehicle handling port, handling 600,000 vehicles per year’.
The damaged cars are believed to be E5s from Chinese brand Jaecoo; prices start from £27,505 per piece
Firefighters were called to an area on West Bay Road at around 4.20am after reports of an ‘explosion’.
The pictures show several vehicles with serious damage; Some of them are completely gutted
Citizens were warned to keep windows and doors closed. No injuries reported
Jaecoo is the SUV sub-brand of Chery, China’s largest automobile exporter.
The E5 Electric model uses a 61.1 kWh Lithium Iron Phosphate battery and has an official range of 248 miles.
The firm’s Jaecoo 7 car was dubbed the ‘Temu Range Rover’ but was praised by fans for its low cost compared to luxury brand SUVs.
In March, the Jaecoo 7 became the most popular new car in the UK and is the best-selling new car of 2026 so far, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
A total of 10,064 Jaecoo 7s were registered in March alone, outperforming the Puma and Qashqai.
Despite only going on sale in January 2025, 26,048 units of the Jaecoo 7 were sold last year, making it the fourth most popular retail car in the UK.
