Chery shrugs off Geely surge as Stockman ute, other new models loom

Chery has been on the precipice of being a top-10 auto brand in Australia, and it doesn’t believe it’ll be thwarted by another Chinese challenger brand.

Last year, Chery finished 13th overall in new-vehicle sales with 34,889 units. So far this year it’s sitting in ninth position, below only Toyota, BYD, Kia, Ford, Mazda, Hyundai, GWM and Tesla, with 33,817 deliveries.

It has also managed to finish anywhere between eighth and 10th place every single month this year, until August when a surging Geely bumped it out of the top 10.

Geely has been on a tear, finishing in 22nd place in January but rising to 10th position in just seven months thanks in large part to increased demand for electric vehicles (EVs) – something the Chery brand has just one of.

There’s still a significant gap between the two though, with Geely having delivered 19,159 vehicles so far this year.

Asked whether Chery is concerned about the threat of fresh Chinese competition, Chery Motor Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris said: “One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

“Doing it for one month is great. I think being there consistently for 12-plus months, there's a different story altogether,” he continued.

“Don't forget some of the product that's about to launch in the very near future, which I think is going to change Chery's position in the market again. Plus, there are several other models and segments that Chery will launch in next year.”

Mr Harris was alluding to the Stockman, the brand’s first ute, for which the rollout of variants will begin Down Under later this year.

It’ll give the brand not only a rival to the popular Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux which top the sales charts, but also a growing number of Chinese utes including the BYD Shark 6, GWM Cannon and Cannon Alpha, LDV T60 and Terron 9, and MG U9.

It remains to be seen whether it’ll be a smash-hit like the BYD Shark 6 launched last year, or more of a slow-burning model like the MG U9 that followed it. In the first half of this year, the BYD dual-cab notched up 9493 deliveries, bearing down on the Mitsubishi Triton, while the MG managed a much more modest 918 deliveries.

Launching first with a diesel plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain, the Stockman range will be expanded with petrol PHEV versions in 2027. Also due on sale here next year is the Chery Q electric hatch, with a sedan also expected to join the local lineup.

Geely, in contrast, already has an electric hatch and a plug-in hybrid sedan but no ute – at least not yet.

Chery is one of myriad Chinese brands that has set ambitious sales targets for our market.

GWM wants to finish in the top five by the end of 2027 and eventually crack the top three – goals MG has previously set for itself. GAC wants to finish in the top 10 by the end of the decade, and BYD is on track to finish in the top three this year.

“Are we worried about other Chinese brands? We would be foolish to say no,” said Mr Harris.

“There are great brands that come from China, and they have great products and they're hyper-competitive. And we can't ignore them, or underestimate them.”

Among this clutter of ambitious Chinese brands, there’s Chery, which wants its namesake brand to finish in the top five by 2027.

But the marque is competing not only with Chinese rivals but also its own spinoff brand Omoda Jaecoo, which Chery Motor Australia wants to be in the top 10 in the same period.

Not only that, but Chery will launch Lepas this year, followed by three more Chery Group brands in 2027.

Despite this potential for confusion and cannibalisation, Chery says it’s burnishing its aftersales credentials to help it stand out from the throng of rivals.

“I think one of the big strategic differences for Chery and Chery Group brands is the importance and emphasis that we will put on aftersales support long-term,” said Mr Harris.

“Because right now, like many others, we have to conquest 100 per cent of our sales. We would love to get to the point where maybe 30 per cent of them we've earned the right for repurchase.

“And we're only going to earn that right through doing the right thing through their ownership experience and making sure that we take care of them in that aftersales journey, which is what we put so much time and energy in.

“I think that that's going to be a huge competitive advantage for us, because many others will sit here and tell you the same thing, [but] whether they'll actually be able to deliver it and execute it in the same way that we intend to, I think is much harder.”

Mr Harris said the incoming Lepas brand will be able to tap Chery’s existing backend infrastructure, even if it’ll be sold through a separate dealer network, thereby giving it an edge over some other Chinese brands.

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