Chinese car-maker on cusp of Australian relaunch with aggressive new model rollout
Chinese car-maker Chery will return Down Under within a matter of weeks and will use the Australian market as a testbed for its ambitious global expansion.
Eight years on from its Australian exit under independent importer Ateco Automotive, China’s largest auto exporter will return to Australia in late February with a factory-owned distribution operation and is setting its sights on mainstream Japanese and Korean auto brands with a raft of new-generation “SUV, passenger and four-wheel drive models”.
The Chery Omoda 5 small SUV will be the first model to arrive in Aussie customers hands in March, before Chery offers at least another two further SUVs before year’s end, thought to be the mid-size Tiggo 7 Pro five-seater and the Tiggo 8 Pro seven-seater.
Chery Australia marketing director James Curtis told carsales Australia was pivotal in Chery’s global expansion plan.
Chery Tiggo 7 Pro
“Australia is such an important market for Chery that the whole market is pivoting towards our operations. We’re getting priority shipment, we’re getting priority productions; everyone is watching us,” the former Toyota and Lexus executive said.
“The fact Australia is a right-hand drive market and has the most amount of makes and models per capita and the fact we’re global consumers – our expectations in safety, design and lifestyle are equal to that of North America and Europe – Australia is a litmus test for the brand.
“If we’re successful, then we will rise to become a truly global company.”
Curtis indicated that as many as five different models would become available to Australian consumers in its initial launch phase. As we’ve previously reported, this almost certainly will include the rugged J Series Tiggo SUV codenamed TJ-1 and the Tiggo 9 large SUV.
Chery Tiggo 9
He said the car-maker would also release an all-electric version of the Omoda 5 to target the Hyundai Kona EV within the first 12 months of its Australian launch.
Further afield, Chery could export a host of other EVs, two ‘lifestyle’ utes to Australia and even premium sister brands like Exceed.
“I can’t confirm anything at this stage but our model range will increase in terms of multiple engine variants for the Omoda 5, and then there’s a heap of different models that are in development or being upgraded within the Chery model portfolio which will be available for us to pick from,” he said.
Chery Tiggo 8
“I’m really excited about what we’ve got coming up. But we’re not talking a matter of five years, we’re talking a matter of 12 months.
“I can be pretty confident the cars I’ve seen in certain presentations will be available to us. And they span multiple segments and multiple different powertrains: BEVs, four-wheel drives, SUVs, passenger cars. I can be confident that five or more of those cars will be available to us.”
Chery Australia previously said it wants to be a top-five automotive brand in Australia by selling 75,000 vehicles annually by 2027, with a range of up to 10 conventional and electrified models.
Chery Omoda 5
Curtis said Chery officials were closely studying the Australian market, and wanted to develop the brand constructively and sustainably.
“The most important thing is that we make sure we pick the right time to launch to market. We’re not going to rush anything, it’s going to be under the right conditions,” he said.
“Globally, we’ve got a number of different product lines, we’ve also got Exceed luxury brand which produces SUVs and passenger cars.
“We’ve got off-roaders and all these different product lines available to us. I think the direction of the market is in SUV, but we’ve got every product in terms of body styles, powertrains and drive configurations if the market desires.”
Chery Tiggo 7 Pro
Chery will confirm its Australian dealer network in the coming weeks, but it’s understood the brand has mapped out 60 prospective sites nationally:
“You can be confident that we’ll have a very comprehensive dealer network from launch in our major markets across the country,” Curtis said.
“Our product benchmarks are the Koreans and the Japanese – even Lexus to be honest. You’ll be impressed when you see the cars, they’re really well built.
“We have to be competitive in price. Our cars are in an SUV segment and the price trends have gone up. That gives us an opportunity to be more affordable.”
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Keyword: Chery to use Australia as testbed for global expansion