Just shy of 12 months after resuming selling vehicles in Australia, Chery announced it would bring a second brand to our market – and its managing director says there’s the potential for more.
Chery Australia recently announced the Jaecoo brand will arrive here in the second half of 2024, spearheaded by the mid-sized J7 crossover.
That aligns our market with others like Europe, where the Jaecoo brand is also being rolled out – despite the fact the J7 is badged as a Chery in its home market of China.
Chinese-market Chery Explore 06 
Jaecoo J7
When asked whether any of Chery’s other brands could come here, Chery Australia managing director Lucas Harris left the door open.
“Past the end of this year, nothing’s off the table really,” he said.
“Personally I’d really love to see some of the Exeed product come. I’ve had the good privilege of driving the new sedan and the new SUV in China.
“Personally, I’d love to see those cars come here, maybe one day.”
As for how Jaecoo will be positioned relative to Chery, Mr Harris said it would be a more premium, lower-volume offering.
“The reality is the product and the brand Jaecoo is actually quite a different position to what Chery is, you know the design and feel of the products and their capabilities aim to be different and the sort of customer that we think will be interested in that will be different,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s the same sort of volume aspiration as what Chery is, it’s a bit more premium, certainly the styling a lot more different.
“Chery is going to be our sort of volume brand, where we’re going to position Jaecoo a bit more premium.”
Exeed Sterra ES 
It’s unclear how much the J7 will cost, though a base price north of the also mid-sized Chery Tiggo 7 Pro’s $36,990 drive-away sticker seems likely.
While Jaecoo is intended to be a more premium brand, it’s not the only brand in the Chery family using the p-word.
The company’s namesake Chery brand is slotted below Jetour and the more premium Exeed, both of which were established in the mid-2010s and sell vehicles not only in China but also in various Middle Eastern and Latin American markets.
Exeed Sterra ET
Until Exeed revealed the Sterra ES Mr Harris drove in China, the brand specialised in SUVs: the LX, TX, RX and VX, all packing turbocharged four-cylinder engines.
The Sterra ES sedan and Sterra ET SUV, sized similarly to the Tesla Model S and Model X, use a new electric vehicle (EV) platform and offer the option of dual-motor all-wheel drive and 800V electrical systems.
Headline stats for the Sterra ES include a drag coefficient of 0.205, claimed energy consumption of as little as 11.7kWh/100km and up to 905km of range on the CLTC cycle, and a 0-100km/h time of 3.7 seconds in top-spec guise.
The electric sedan also comes standard with air suspension.
Exeed RX 
Exeed LX 
Exeed TXL 
Exeed VX
As is common for Chinese carmakers, Chery hasn’t focused on just a single brand and has instead rolled out multiple brands to varying success. Jetour and Exeed effectively replaced the defunct Riich brand at the top of the Chery tree.
Chery also has the Karry commercial vehicle brand in China, while last year it established two new EV brands: iCar and Luxeed. The latter is used for a vehicle developed by Chery and smartphone company Huawei.
In Europe, Chery plans to sell vehicles under the Omoda, Jaecoo, and Exlantix brands.
Omoda C5
Omoda will be used for for a rebadged – or, more accurately, a partially de-badged – Chery Omoda 5, while Exlantix is expected to be the export name for the aforementioned electric Exeed Sterra models.
Even more confusingly, Chery vehicles are sold as Chireys in Mexico. This is because American businessman Malcolm Bricklin owns the rights to the Chery name in North America, having previously planned to import them.
