JAC used the Chengdu Motor Show to reveal the updated interior of the T9 PHEV, and the most interesting thing on the dashboard is not the screen. It is the row of toggle switches underneath it.
A bank of physical controls, in 2026, is a feature worth leading with. That is where the industry has ended up.
The cabin is a two-tone design, pairing light cream upholstery and trim against darker dashboard surfaces, with metallic and chrome-effect detailing and ambient lighting running under the dash and along the door cards. It reads closer to a mid-size SUV than to a pickup, which is the direction JAC has been pushing the T9 since launch rather than a sudden change of position.
The dashboard architecture is new. A large central touchscreen sits high and within the driver's sightline, with a separate digital instrument display behind the steering wheel, and the screen is integrated into the dash structure instead of standing proud of it like a tablet bolted to the centre stack. Two substantial air vents flank the stack with the hazard switch between them. Below the screen sit the toggles and physical controls, and below those a redesigned centre console with more metal trim and a reworked gear selector.
For context on the jump, the current T9 runs a 10.4-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and a 7-inch digital cluster, alongside leather-trimmed seats, heated fronts, wireless phone charging, ambient lighting and a 360-degree camera in New Zealand specification. JAC's New Zealand operation also fits a pie warmer and drinks cooler, which remains one of the more market-specific options in the segment.
The screen in the show car is clearly larger, though JAC did not publish a diagonal measurement, and it did not publish the resolution or the processor either. Show interiors are also not always production interiors. Switchgear that survives a display stand does not automatically survive a cost review, and the toggles are exactly the sort of hardware that gets replaced by a haptic strip between reveal and showroom.
Still, the direction is consistent with what the segment's buyers keep saying. A ute is used with gloves on, in rain, on corrugated gravel, and touchscreens are bad at all three. Retaining hard controls for climate and drive modes is a spec decision, not a nostalgia one, and it is the kind of thing that shows up in ownership satisfaction long after the trim colour stops mattering.
JAC has not released output, battery capacity or electric range figures for the updated T9 PHEV, and gave no launch timing at the show, which closed on August 30.