Watch out Toyota? Omoda Jaecoo wants to be the biggest hybrid car brand in the world as its global boss talks a big game on challenging established players

Speaking to CarsGuide the global boss of Omoda and Jaecoo Shawn Xu explained how he wants the Chery spin-off pair to be the “number one” for hybrid products in the world.

This is despite Omoda and Jaecoo only having debuted in 2023 as the export-focused arm of Chery, with a long way to go to challenge the current leader in hybrid sales globally - Toyota.

The way Xu puts it, it’s a no-brainer that the pair of companies he oversees has had explosive growth in all the markets they play in.

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“It’s not really a surprise” he said, when asked about the reception to the brand in Australia “We’ve always looked at global markets, not just the traditional left-hand drive markets - and from this global vision, we want to build up and be a famous brand for the world.

“We can declare it is the fastest growing new brand in the world - in each market we want to grow fast and have good performance, and Australia is no exception,” he said.

In fact, Xu says for some markets when it comes to plug-in hybrids specifically, it could already be number one given how affordable and accessible it has made its product portfolio compared to traditional rivals.

On top of that, he said the Chery-sourced so-called ‘Super Hybrid’ technology used in Omoda and Jaecoo products is superior to Toyota’s 'Hybrid Synergy' system which has gradually taken the world by storm thanks to its relative affordability and accessibility.

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“We did a survey into this and customers selected HEV [plugless hybrids] because of fuel consumption, but some customers don’t buy hybrids because the power is not enough for them. Especially the acceleration is not enough, or there’s not enough power when you are at freeway speeds.

“What we’ve developed is both low fuel consumption, and high power. We say you can have one car with two feelings. Very smooth with very low fuel consumption, but when you want to be sporty, the power is very strong,” Xu said.

He said part of challenging Toyota’s dominance will likely include rolling out new plugless hybrids to live alongside the combustion and plug-in hybrid models, although he said the version of the technology deployed by Omoda and Jaecoo would be superior to rivals.

“For Omoda and Jaecoo, we plan to be the number one for hybrid products in the world. We have good technology and the benefits are good, so that gives us confidence.”

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The Super Hybrid system uses a dedicated hybrid transmission, paired to a lean-burn engine which can operate in multiple modes depending on the speed of the vehicle and the state of battery charge.

Unlike Toyota’s Hybrid Synergy system, the electric motor is more powerful than the engine and uses a bigger battery, which the brand says allows it to drive more of the time in electric mode, with more smooth, powerful acceleration and quieter operation. In addition, the larger battery allows it to store more energy regenerated from braking, coasting downhill, or when the engine is idling.

In the case of the Chery Tiggo 7, which is the basis for the hybrid system used in the Jaecoo J7 SHS, the brand targets less than 6.0L/100km even when the plug-in hybrid battery is at its reserve level.

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No doubt also giving Xu confidence is the relative success of the brand in other right-hand drive markets. While Omoda Jaecoo has only just launched in Australia, amassing 1124 registrations (0.3 per cent market share), he said in the UK where the brand had been active for six months it already accounted for two per cent of new vehicle sales (around 3500 units per month, according to Xu). Even more impressive is the global scale, with Omoda Jaecoo having already sold in excess of 240,000 units, up more than 12 per cent year-on-year.

Still, locally the brand has a long way to go to challenge the market-leading Toyota, something which doesn’t deter Xu.

“Definitely in Australia we believe we can grow very fast. We believe we will be a top 10 brand. Right now we need time to let customers become aware of us, but when it comes to feedback from customers and the dealer conversion rate, it’s very high.”

“We’re targeting within two years to be a top 10 brand. If we can move faster than that it could be even less,” he said.