Chery commits to $20b-plus R&D investment

Chery has announced it will invest more than 100 billion yuan ($A21.68b) in the research and development of new models over the next five years, in addition to the existing range of SUVs, sedans and EVs the Chinese car-maker will soon release in Australia.

Returning to Australia after an eight-year hiatus in March with wholly-owned local distribution for the first time, Chery has so far released just one model Down Under this time round – the Chery Omoda 5 small SUV.

But it will be followed on sale next month by the larger Chery Tiggo 7 Pro – a five-seat mid-size SUV priced from under $40,000 – then the larger-still Chery Tiggo 8 Pro seven-seat mid-size SUV (now due in April 2024) and then battery-powered Omoda 5 EV in mid-2024.

Chery Australia will also add a bigger new 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine (but not all-wheel drive) for the Omoda 5 in 2024.

That’s the extent of the Chery models so far confirmed for Australia, but the fledgling Chinese brand has long said it would use this market as a testbed for its global expansion plans.

Also under review for Australia are plug-in hybrid versions of the Tiggo 7 and 8, a number of models from luxury sister brands including Arrizo and the all-EV Exeed marque, and the Jaecoo 7 – a new adventure-oriented mid-size SUV closely related to the Chery TJ-1 revealed at the Shanghai motor show in April.

Just launched in China with Chery’s newest 1.6T engine, matched to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission and all-wheel drive, the 4.45m-long Jaecoo 7 is based on the same T1X monocoque platform as the Tiggo 7 and 8.

Confusingly, the Jaecoo 7 is also referred to as the Tiggo 9 and will be followed in 2024 by the bigger five- and seven-seat Jaecoo 8, and in 2025 by the Omoda 9 – a five-seat flagship SUV based on the same M3X platform as the Omoda 5 but positioned above the Tiggo 8 in China despite being smaller than the Jaecoo 8.

The 4775m-long Omoda 9 and 4815m Jaecoo 8 are both powered by a 183kW 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and fitted with top-end tech like a 12.3-inch touch-screen multimedia display, digital instrument cluster and, in the latter, 10 airbags and 14-speaker sound.

At this week’s 2023 Chery Tech Day, the company said it had accumulated over 26,000 patent applications, ranking it “at the forefront of the industry”, and that as part of its record R&D investment it would establish 300 ‘Yao Guang Laboratories’ worldwide over the next five years.

Established in 1997, Chery sold 1.253 million vehicles to September this year (up 40 per cent and more than its 2022 total) and was China’s largest auto exporter until it was overtaken last year by MG and LDV parent company SAIC Motor.

Chery already builds cars in Brazil, Egypt and – soon – Argentina, Indonesia and Thailand. After commencing exports to the Middle East, Mexico, Malaysia and Australia, it will enter European markets with its Omoda, Jaecoo and Exlantix brands.

In a little over six months with a relatively small dealer network, Chery Australia has sold almost 3650 Omoda 5s – more than the nine-month totals for the Honda HR-V, Skoda Kamiq and Jeep Compass.

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