New Chinese brand is missing one very important thing: Chery's sub brand Omoda has arrived in Australia with its 2026 Omoda 9 plug-in hybrid SUV to take on Mazda, Volkswagen and others but what comes next is a mystery

When launching a new car brand the most important element is obvious — cars.

Omoda is an ambitious new luxury spin-off from the Chery Motors group, and will sit alongside the almost-as-new Jaecoo brand in 32 unique showrooms. However, while the all-new Omoda 9 has arrived in Australia this week, there’s no confirmed plans for what comes next.

Officially the Omoda 9 is the only Omoda that will be offered for the foreseeable future. Omoda Jaecoo Chief Commercial Officer Roy Munoz revealed to CarsGuide plans are still being finalised with head office in China.

“ Yeah, there's more in the pipeline that we are assessing with HQ for viability in our market,” Munoz said. “So potentially the UK has just sort of introduced the [Jaecoo] J5, so we're looking at that model as well, but haven't confirmed the launch date for that at this stage. But definitely across both brands, there are, let's call it options, available to the Australian market.”

Exactly what those options are remains unclear. As Munoz referenced, the Omoda Jaecoo operation is already in the right-hand drive United Kingdom market and provides a possible glimpse at what will come our way. 

The UK offers the Omoda 5 small SUV and its electric E5 variant, but that model is sold in Australia as the Chery C5, which rules it out for Omoda brand but also causes some confusion across the two showrooms. 

Instead the most likely candidate to join the local line-up is the Omoda 7, a plug-in hybrid mid-size SUV that will slot underneath the 9.

Munoz didn’t confirm the Omoda 7 for Australia and didn’t want to reveal any specific details as the new brand finds its way, but he was adamant a second Omoda would join the local range by the end of 2026.

“There is always a long-term plan, but until anything’s concrete, plans could change,” he said. “So all we can share is that there is a longer term plan that Omoda will get more models.  And it's probably not so much long-term, it's more of a medium-term thing.”

The delay on the next Omoda is highlighted by the launch of both the Jaecoo J7 and J8 already in 2025 in Australia and Munoz’s admission the J5 is another likely addition here. That would mean three Jaecoo models compared to a single Omoda.

This raises the question — does Chery really need two more premium brands in the already crowded Australian market? 

Munoz admitted a large part of Omoda’s arrival is part of Chery’s ambition to have both Omoda and Jaecoo become global brands, even if that may not suit individual market needs. But he insisted there is a clear differentiation between the two brands that means they can compliment each other.

“ Look, there's a part of it that's aligning with global strategy. But at the same time, it's our job to actually balance that portfolio and to make sure that there's something that appeals to people in, say, column A, Jaecoo or column B, Omoda. So it is a balancing act, but we'll make sure that there's a differentiation enough to appeal to a certain buyer for Omoda and a certain buyer for Jaecoo,” Munoz said.

So how will these two very similar brands coexist? It’s all in the positioning, according to Munoz, with Omoda pitched as a ‘fashion’ brand and Jaecoo for ‘adventure lifestyle’ buyers.

“I think from a brand marketing perspective they do speak to different sorts of customer types, “ he explained. “So Omoda is your technology, fashion oriented almost like your crossover SUV-type brand. It'll be largely new energy focused, whereas your Jaecoo has been sort of your adventure focused vehicle sort of adventure lifestyle, and that's at a sort of brand and marketing level from a product or technology level.

“Omoda will probably be more new energy focused and that's why we've launched the Omoda 9 in the super hybrid and only in that trim as well. So we do need to have some sort of product differentiation as well, so at a product level, there'll be differentiation also from the customer's perspective as well.”