Chery aims to be one of Australia’s five best-selling car brands by 2027 and has another brand – OmodaJacobo – in the top 10.
However, Chery Australia chief operating officer Lucas Harris says the goal will be achieved through execution rather than rhetoric.
“Any brand that tells you they don’t want to be in the top five is probably telling you they’re pigs… The reality is not every brand is going to be in the top five,” Mr Harris said Daily Sparkz.
“If we can have one brand in the top three or four and then another brand in the top 10, then I think that’s pretty good… a successful model.”
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When asked about the timing, Mr Harris said getting there would not be immediate.
“If headquarters asked me…they probably want me to say tomorrow, (but) we’ll get there. I think it’ll take a little longer. We still have a lot of work to do with awareness and trust…”
“Next year I think we will grow even more. Some of our model series have now reached a certain level of maturity that will become more and more consistent.”
Mr Harris notes that the new venture represents a key growth lever, with Australia a priority market and volume ambitions that indicate serious momentum in the segment.
“For the ute that’s currently being developed, it’s very much a joint effort between Australia and China and I think we’ll be the first two markets to get this new (model) from a volume perspective,” he said.
“If we’re not trying to do 1,000 a month in this huge segment, then… (otherwise) why would we bring one?”
These ambitions are supported by a dealer network that focuses on both profitability and coverage, says Mr Harris. Chery has about 85 locations today and “expects to reach around 100 by the end of next year,” while Omoda Jaecoo is at just over 40 and is expected to almost double in 12 months.
He also characterizes Chery’s current phase as “still an established brand,” neither brand new nor fully established, meaning the decisions made now have disproportionate importance, suggesting that some other Chinese car brands have been chasing short-term gains against long-term pain.
“We find ourselves in a difficult position in the middle where we have to be very careful and considerate about what we do next because there are others who were in this position not so long ago and some of the decisions they made then continue to impact them now,” he said.
Chery only relaunched here as a factory-based operation in 2023 and was Australia’s 23rd best-selling brand last year. But it has risen quickly and is in 13th place by the end of October, and has even been in the top 10 in recent months.
So far this year, Chery has delivered 27,578 vehicles, ahead of Volkswagen (24,731) but just below Nissan (31,050). Sales rose by 207.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
Omoda Jaecoo, which started local delivery earlier this year, is at 2,709 year-to-date sales. This means it is still ahead of Cupra (2330) and Jeep (1473).
Ultimately, Mr Harris’s top five objectives are getting the basics done well – raising awareness and trust, delivering product cadence (including the ute) and ensuring retail execution keeps pace.
“By ’27 we want to be there…It’s easy to say a lot of the things we’re saying right now; it’s another thing to do them,” he said.
“If we can practice what we say and do what we promise, I think customers will make up their own minds and take us to where we should be, not where we want to be.”
China’s vehicle exports to Australia have increased almost sevenfold since 2020. The country now accounts for one in five new cars sold here, up from one in 25 in 2020.
Growth continues to be driven by established electric and hybrid brands (BYD, MG, GWM, Chery) as well as Teslas built in Shanghai.
Chery, MG, BYD and GWM all have ambitions to be in the top five in the next few years, which suggests an exceptional number of new models are coming at very competitive prices.
Below is the evolution of Chinese car sales in Australia over the past five years, with 2025 figures representing January to October only.
| Year | Sales of cars built in China | Share of the Australian market |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 30,696 | 4.0% |
| 2021 | 76,262 | 8.7% |
| 2022 | 122,845 | 13.1% |
| 2023 | 193,433 | 18.3% |
| 2024 | 216,219 | 19.4% |
| 2025 YTD (January–Oct) | 207,742 | 19.9% |
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