Chery’s Aussie boss wants to hear from unhappy customers

Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris has put a new spin on ‘speaking to the manager’, saying he wants to deal personally with disgruntled customers as the rapidly growing Chinese brand strives to improve its aftersales performance.

Customer service and support is an acknowledged weakness of the rapid expansion of Chinese auto brands in Australia, with BYD Australia COO Stephen Collins recently going on record promising the brand would improve its aftersales experience.

Chery Australia COO Lucas Harris said customer relations is a priority for the rapidly expanding Chinese brand and that it’s policy for him to be personally available to deal with complaints.

“We've got an internal policy where if a customer calls through or sends an email and asks for me, the policy is transfer them or forward me the email,” Harris told carsales.

“And I have this [smartphone] everywhere with me and this is where they get transferred to.

“I can't always answer it, so I prefer email, but that's the level of importance that we put on it.”

That level of focus is warranted, considering Chery’s sales in Australia grew 176 per cent in 2025.

Alongside the Chery brand in Australia, the business includes Omoda and Jaecoo and will add Lepas and iCaur in 2026, with the distinct possibility of more spin-offs to come.

Before the end of 2026, the Chinese brand is also going to enter the ute space with a new diesel plug-in hybrid (PHEV) codenamed KP31.

But Harris insists Chery is well placed to cope with all these pressures.

“Chery has, right from day one, invested significantly in aftersales,” he said.

“So Chery's holding right now over $30 million worth of parts in Australia at wholesale prices, not retail. So retail it would be a little bit more.

“We've ensured that when we have the network, not only are we just appointing sales locations, but we're also appointing proper sales and service locations in every dealership that we appoint.

“We're extremely compliant when it comes to trying to solve customer problems, be it under warranty or not.”

Harris said he invokes a couple of Australian traditions to help Chery staff gauge whether they’re doing the customer-service job properly, including what he calls “the pub test”.

“If you were listening to your friend at a barbecue or at the pub and they were telling you about the story and the trouble that they were having, would you think that Chery is doing the right thing or not?

“And if your answer is not, then we're not doing the right thing, and we need to find a way to solve it,” he said.

Harris said Chery has heavily invested in aftersales support, noting that “a third of our staff are employed in aftersales… so that we can make sure that we're standing there behind the dealers”.

As its local line-up expands further, Chery Australia’s initiatives include new parts warehouses in Brisbane and Perth by the end of 2026, joining the current facility in Melbourne.

Chery’s local seven-year unlimited kilometre warranty, seven-year roadside assist and seven-year capped price servicing to new vehicle buyers and this program has now been adopted in other international markets.

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au