Chery Triple Treat

The narrow, winding, 1km test track behind one of Chery's four factories in the Wu Hu province -- about four hours' drive west of Shanghai -- is too short for a proper road test. But it's enough to get an insight into what we can expect when the first Chinese-branded passenger cars arrive in Australia later this year.

Chinese-made vehicles are already on sale in Australia thanks to rival brand Great Wall Motors, which began selling a pair of utes and a 4WD wagon in Australia last year through independent distributor, Ateco Automotive. Before that Volkswagen briefly sold Chinese-made sedan versions of the Polo between April 2004 and May 2005.

Ateco plans to begin importing Chery vehicles by the end of this year, and is in the process of appointing between 40 and 50 dealers nationally. And this trio of Chery models -- the Light Car called J1, the Small Car called J3 and the softroader called J11 ('Tiggo' in China) -- will the first Chinese-branded passenger cars to come Down Under.

More cars are due to follow from Chery, Great Wall Motors and Geely (the brand that just bought Swedish maker Volvo).

Apart from being able to sit in the cars, slam doors, pop hatches and open and shut gloveboxes and discover secret cubbies, we were free to lap Chery's  1km test track in all three cars as often as we wanted for an hour.

As is the case with many validation test tracks adjacent to car factories (distinct from the high-speed test tracks where cars are developed), the circuit we drove on was dotted with smooth surfaces, bumps, ripples and corrugations to highlight any squeaks, rattles or loose bits. Every car that comes off the production line goes through this final run before being loaded onto transporters.

To keep things interesting, there was steady rain during our visit, which enabled us to at least sample the anti-lock brakes -- and the wipers.

In summary, there were mostly pleasant surprises, a few examples of ho-hum quality, and a few points for improvement. Here's how they stacked up.

Chery J1
The Chery J1 Light Car and the J11 softroader will be the first Chery vehicles in Australian showrooms. Both vehicles are going through final ADR (Australian design Rules) homologation and should be on sale locally in the last three months of 2010.

Although price is yet to be announced, the Chery J1 is designed to compete with budget cars such as the Hyundai Getz, Kia Rio, Holden Barina, and the Suzuki Alto, all of which range in prices starting from $12,990 to $13,990 driveaway.

In order to remain competitive, the Chery J1 will need to be priced below these established rivals. A figure of $9999 drive-away has a nice ring to it, but the distributor wasn't hinting at any RRP as this test was written.

"We will make a decision on price closer to the launch," says the head of Ateco Automotive's new ventures, Dinesh Chinnappa.

"It really depends on currency. We want to come in under the Koreans, but not by much. And we want to offer a better value proposition: more equipment for the same or less money."

To that end, the Chery J1 will be better equipped than the cheapest Koreans because, in addition to having a five-door body instead of a three-door body, all Chery J1s will have anti-lock brakes and alloy wheels as standard (both are optional on the cheapest Korean models).

Other standard equipment includes: two airbags, aircon, power windows, remote central locking, CD player, USB audio input, and a full size spare tyre. With relatively small GT Radial Champiro 165/60 14 tyres it's not hard to find space for a full size spare under the boot floor.

Only the Indian-made Suzuki Alto has more equipment than the Chery J1. The little Suzuki gets six airbags and stability control for $12,990 driveaway -- and is available with automatic transmission for an additional $2000. Automatic is not available on the Chery.

The J1 may look small in photos -- it almost has Daihatsu Move-type proportions with its narrow tall frame -- but it is roomier than it seems. The cabin has plenty of headroom -- front and rear -- and the design and quality of the interior were both pleasant surprises.

The quality of the switchgear (indicator and wiper stalks, power window switches and air-conditioning controls) felt comparable to the current crop of cheapies from Korea and Malaysia.

Powered by a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine with a five-speed manual transmission, the J1 is quite refined and responsive, the latter presumably because of its feather weight.

It carries on with the job without much fuss. The suspension is comfortable, only getting upset by the biggest bumps the Chery test track could throw at it.

Criticisms? The wiper sweep on the windscreen is small and the wiper speed on the highest setting did not seem fast enough for heavy rain.

Braking performance was sound but we'll reserve any further comment until testing it in Australia in a few months.

Chery J11
The Chery J11 is likely to fill the void left by the two Korean softroaders as they move upmarket, the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage.

Both of these vehicles have been replaced by larger, all-new models -- which is why Chery believes the J11 could be its biggest seller in Australia initially.

Price is yet to be confirmed, but if the Chinese-made Great Wall Motors X240 is $23,990 driveaway with all its heavy-duty 4WD hardware, then surely the front-drive-only Chery J11 must come in under that price.

The Chery J11 is powered by a 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine and will be available with five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission.

At first glance, from the front it looks like just another relatively anonymous softroader. But from behind, you could be forgiven for thinking you're looking at the previous generation Toyota RAV4.

It's the same from behind the wheel. The design and layout of the dashboard and instruments will likely be familiar to anyone who owned a circa 2000-06 RAV4.

The J11 is also about the same size as the previous generation RAV4, so anyone who thinks the new one is a fraction too big may find some appeal here.

As with the J1 Light Car, the J11 softroader felt quite spritely. The engine revved cleanly and smoothly, and overall it drove reasonably well, especially over bumps and rough surfaces.

We'll reserve final judgment on the performance of the Maxxis MA501 215/65 16 tyres until we're on local terra firma.

Criticisms? Most of the plastics in the cabin were hard and the joins and gaps around the dashboard were below average in execution.

Chery J3
Stick Ford badges on this car and it could pass as a new generation Ford Focus. Not that it's a copycat car, rather that comment was meant as a compliment about how far Chery (and China) has come in design terms in a relatively short period of time in the car world.

The Chery J3 is especially significant because the brand that once got busted by General Motors for 'borrowing' the design of the Daewoo Matiz for one of its city cars, put its corporate pride to one side and commissioned respected Italian design house Pininfarina to style its newest hatchback.

The J3 went on sale in China last year and is due to follow the J1 and J11 models in Australia by about four months, putting it in local showrooms in the first few months of 2011.

The Chery J3 was originally designed to compete with Europe's finest, so it has a higher level of structural safety -- and a higher level of standard safety equipment.

This car could well be the first Chinese-branded vehicle on sale in Australia with front-seat side airbags and stability control.

The European focus (pardon the pun) also explains the slick design. With its carefully crafted surfaces, including a clever rear stop lamp that blends as a bulge into the roofline, and its hidden rear door handles (ala Alfa Romeo), it's a sharp looking piece of work.

So it was hugely disappointing, then, to find that the (brief) drive experience didn't match expectations -- or the vehicle's impression of quality and design integrity.

The 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine felt plain lethargic, perhaps because the stronger body (you can see the extra thickness of the car's structure in the roof and door frames) has added too much weight.

Cars of this size and weight in Australia typically have 1.8 or 2.0-litre engines. A Chery representative told the Carsales Network that a 2.0-litre is being developed for the J3 and will follow 12 months after the vehicle's Australian release. It can't come soon enough.

Unfortunately, that's not the end of the J3's woes. The steering rack rattled over corrugations -- even while driving in a straight line. Hopefully this will not occur in right-hand-drive versions sent to Australia (the cars tested were all left-hand-drive).

Rear seat space is cosy, and headroom is restricted by the roof which tapers at the rear. I'm not tall (178cm) and my head touched the roof lining.

The thick rear pillars also block rear three-quarter visibility. Let's hope parking sensors are standard (but sound better than the drone of those on one of the cars we tested).

There was no wiper for the rear hatch window. And some of the detailed cabin finish left a bit to be desired. Example: an exposed screw near the auxillary audio port. I haven't seen one of these in a cabin since I last drove a Land Rover Defender.

Positives? The Chery J3 looks sharp, has a big boot and the maker has fitted quality tyres to the vehicle (Goodyear Eagle NCT5 205/55 16), and included a full-size spare into the bargain.

Challenges? The Chery J3 needs to be cheaper than $18,990 driveaway, which is where the quality small cars start such as the Kia Cerato. The Kia also gets a five-year unlimited kilometre warranty-- this compares to the three years/100,000km deal that's going to be offered with all Chinese made vehicles distributed by Ateco Automotive.

The Chery J3 was the car I wanted to like the most, but ended up liking the least.

If Chery wants to make a good impression with this vehicle, the J3 needs a lot more polish in several areas before being put on a boat to Australia.

About Chery
Chery is pronounced 'che-ree' and, roughly translated from Chinese to English, means 'unique'. Chery's cars may not have always been uniquely styled, but its phenomenal rate of growth is certainly special in the automotive world.

With just 10 years experience in making and selling cars, Chery is the one of the youngest vehicle manufacturers in China. So it is an amazing feat that it has already become the largest self-owned carmaker in the country -- and the biggest exporter of Chinese-branded vehicles.

Chery started building its first factory in 1997. The first car rolled off the production line in December 1999 and the company sold its first vehicle in early 2000. It now has four car assembly lines, two engine plants and one transmission plant. On the 2.8 million square metres of land that it owns, it is building another, fifth car assembly factory which should be operational next year.

Although Chery is partly owned by the Chinese province in which it is based, there are other private shareholders.

The company is on track to produce 1 million cars this year, well ahead of forecast. It has been the biggest seller among the Chinese brands for nine years in a row. Over the last three years Chery has remained among the top 10 Chinese car makers and has been the biggest selling brand behind Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota and Hyundai.

Chery's exports to 80 countries accounts for almost half of its total production.

The company has 20 models in its range, including hatchbacks, sedans and vans, but the Australian distributor says it will select a fraction of these, possibly up to five over the next three years.

Chery is also developing a hybrid system as well as a pure electric car.

Of the 25,000 staff, Chery employs 5000 engineers in research and development, including former engineers from Japanese, German and North American car makers. The company says that by the end of 2009 it had applied for 4323 patents, more than any other Chinese carmaker.

Chery might be Chinese for unique but the company does have form for copycat design. In 2005 it settled a lawsuit from General Motors which took issue with the design of the Chery QQ, a city car which bore a striking resemblance to the Daewoo Matiz.

Biren Zhou, the vice president of Chery Automobile and general manager of Chery International, told the Carsales Network this week: "We had a peaceful settlement with GM five years ago." In other words, a royalty was paid.

When asked to comment on the similarities between Chery's new H5 van and the latest model Toyota Hiace, an offsider in the round table discussion with Australian media said "different". No other comment was offered.

But Chery does seem serious about developing unique design (as evidenced by commissioning Italian design house Pininfarina to pen Chery's latest hatchback and sedan) and improving the safety of its vehicles.

When asked how he expected the first Chery vehicles to perform in ANCAP crash tests in Australia, Zhou said: "In China we have a saying that everybody has a shortcoming. Of course, cars are the same. If we have some shortcoming, we will make the improvement in the shortest period of time.

"When the date is determined for the first crash test of our vehicle in Australia, we will send our engineers to Australia."

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