Well who saw this coming? One of Australia’s favourite models toppled by a newcomer with little to no brand recognition!
That’s precisely what happened last month in the hotly contested small SUV segment.
The Chery Omoda 5, hailing from China, outsold the perennial favourite Mitsubishi ASX. While that doesn’t sound overly important, remember that the ASX has been one of Australia’s top-selling SUVs for more than a decade now.
Yes, a decade. Because the ASX has been on sale in Australia since August 2010! That’s close to 13 years. Sure, it’s had a series of updates and facelifts in that time, but it is the same ASX underneath.
The ASX is on its last legs and is expected to be replaced by a new small SUV that will be based on the XFC concept.
But what’s significant is that Chery found homes for 584 examples of the just-launched Omoda 5 in Australia last month. It’s a significant feat for a new(ish) automotive brand hailing from China.
Compare that with Mitsubishi which found 549 examples of the ASX, which is 29 per cent down from May in 2022. The Omoda 5 also outsold Mitsubishi’s other small SUV, the Eclipse Cross.
It wasn’t the only big name that the newcomer outpaced last month. The uber-popular Toyota Corolla Cross only managed to clock up 421 sales, while the C-HR found 448 sales.
And the challenger from China even found more homes than the recently launched Nissan Qashqai (469).
Now, whether this is the sign of a changing of the guard in the small SUV market, or a blip caused by ongoing supply issues remains to be seen.
The Omoda 5 has only been on sale in Australia for a couple of months but Chery has already clocked up more than 1000 sales year-to-date. Mitsubishi has a head start of course, with 3859 ASX units sold so far this year.
Both models are well off the pace of the current segment sales leader – another Chinese-made SUV – the MG ZS. With 9823 units shifted so far this year, the ZS has almost doubled the sales of the second most popular model in the small-SUV segment, Mazda’s CX-30, which is on 4939 for the year.
The CX-30 is being trailed by the GWM Haval Jolion – also from China – which is in third place on 4458 units.
Chery is certainly already finding more success than when it first attempted the Australian market more than a decade ago.
From February 2011, Chery sold the J1 and J3 small cars and J11 small SUV, but the brand collapsed in Australia by the end of 2013 following poor reviews, and a scandal involving cars that were found to have asbestos in them. It wasn’t a great look.
Cut to 2023 and Chery has been resurrected here as a factory-backed operation. While their prospects are much rosier now, the launch of the Omoda 5 didn’t go off without a hitch.
Early examples driven by Australian journalists – including CarsGuide’s own Richard Berry – were found to have glitchy lane keeping aids that made driving dangerous.
The carmaker says it rectified the issue before any examples found their way into buyers hands.
The Omoda 5 is offered in two grades, including the base spec, simply called Omoda 5, from $32,990 drive-away, while the higher-spec EX variant costs $35,990.
Keyword: Game over? Mitsubishi ASX, Toyota Corolla Cross and more beaten in sales by this plucky Chinese contender - but can this small SUV last the distance?