Watch out for Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi: Chery’s sister brands Omoda and Jaecoo are coming for your customers.
That’s according to Chery Motor Australia chief commercial officer Roy Munoz, who says the automaker’s premium offerings are enticing Australians to trade in their European luxury models for a Chinese replacement model.
More specifically, Mr. Munoz said Daily Sparkz that buyers are heading over to get behind the wheel of the Jaecoo J8 large SUV and the plug-in hybrid flagship Omoda 9.
“I tend to look at what kind of trade-in we get for the vehicle, and for the J8 and Omoda 9 model series we get a lot of people from the premium segment, so from Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz,” he explained.
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“You also have your traditional trade-ins from old volume brands… it’s up to whoever finds the brand appealing.
“We definitely look at who our competitors are in the same segments at similar price points and try to target those customers first. But sometimes when you go fishing, you’re looking for a certain type of fish, but you keep catching a different one.”
“We also look at industry data, but for me the best measure is the trade-ins we receive.”
The Jaecoo J8 and the Omoda 9 both belong to the large SUV segment, which is also occupied by the BMW X5, the Mercedes-Benz GLE-Class and the Audi Q7.
However, the price difference between these alleged competitors is significant. The J8 costs a maximum of $54,990 per car and the Omoda 9 costs $61,990 per car – about half the price of the cheapest German alternative.
Despite this, the Jaecoo and Omoda SUVs combined had 880 deliveries this year, fewer than the X5 (3328 deliveries), the GLE-Class (2307) and the Q7 (1201).
However, neither the J8 nor the Omoda 9 were on sale all year round, but were launched in June and August respectively.
Chery is not the only Chinese manufacturer looking to challenge established premium brands in Australia. BYD and MG have both launched additional “luxury” brands this year (Denza and IM respectively), as the CEO of Xpeng’s Australian distributor TrueEV recently said Daily Sparkz: “I think it’s definitely a premium brand given the quality of the car.”
The most expensive Chinese vehicle available in Australia is currently the Zeekr 009 electric people mover, which costs $139,900 before on-road costs in premium six-seat all-wheel drive guise.
MORE: Discover the Jaecoo showroom
MORE: Discover the Omoda showroom




