2025 Chery C5 Reviews

I’m going to let you in on a little secret that ever-so-slightly undermines the good work I and others do for this esteemed tome. But do keep it between us, ok?

Chery is serving up hybrid power on a budget.

Chery says Australia is a strategically important market which will mean various local tuning programs and variants.

Chery boss says the brand's incoming challenger ute won't look anything like what we've seen so far.

Chery's Tiggo 7 plug-in hybrid might be a plug-in price leader, but the Tiggo 8 ticks even more boxes.

China’s Chery will unveil its next electrified off-roader from the iCar brand on August 1 at an event in Dubai, according to reports.As reported by Car News China, this new vehicle will be the iCar V27, which will be the sub-brand’s largest vehicle yet. It’ll sit above the existing Jeep Wrangler-sized iCar 03 and V23 SUVs.Measuring in at almost 5.0m long, or around the same size as a Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series, the iCar V27 will reportedly be powered by a range-extender (REEV) powertrain.Two configurations will reportedly be offered: one with a single, rear-mounted electric motor and another with a dual-motor all-wheel drive setup.Both will reportedly have a 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that acts purely as a generator and at no point drives the wheels directly.The dual-motor version will reportedly have a total system output of 335kW of power and also have the ability to travel up to 200km on electric power alone.The V27 will reportedly build upon the blocky looks and silhouette of the V23. It’ll have square headlights with a circular running light design, multi-slat grille, vertical tail-lights, side-hinging tailgate and a decorative rear “backpack” where a spare wheel would typically go.Car News China reports the V27 is one of the first from the iCar brand to be fitted with a LiDAR sensor for more semi-autonomous driving functionality.Chinese domestic production of the iCar V27 is reportedly set to commence later this year, with LiDAR-equipped versions to follow in the fourth quarter of 2025.This unveiling event for the iCar V27 in Dubai will also reportedly mark the international launch of the iCaur name.Apple holds the trademark for iCar outside of China, so the brand has been forced to come up with a different name for international markets.At this stage it’s unclear the markets iCaur will launch in, but according to British reports earlier this year, it’ll launch in the UK in 2026.Given right-hand drive production is now more or less locked in, this makes it a chance for an Australian launch.Despite this, Chery Australia is still remaining quiet of the iCaur brand for now.“We’re certainly interested in the exciting product that was revealed at the Shanghai Motor Show. However, at this early stage there are no confirmed plans,” said a Chery Australia spokesperson in May this year.If iCaur does come to Australia it will add to the growing stable of Chery and its sub-brands.Chery currently offers a range of Tiggo SUVs (Tiggo 4, Tiggo 7, Tiggo 8 and soon the Tiggo 9), as well as the C5 and E5 (previously Omoda C5 and E5, respectively).Jaecoo also launched locally earlier this year with the J7 and J8 SUVs. It’s worth noting that Chery sells its iCar V23 as a Jaecoo model in other markets.Additionally, the standalone Omoda brand is launching locally in August with the Omoda 9 SHS, which is a plug-in hybrid alternative to the Jaecoo J8.Omoda and Jaecoo models will be sold together at dedicated Omoda Jaecoo dealers, not Chery dealers. This strategy follows what Chery has been rolling out globally.

This is Australia’s most affordable plug-in hybrid vehicle. It’s the Chery Tiggo 7 ‘Super Hybrid’ and you can have one for just $39,990 drive-away at the time we put this review together.

If you need any more proof that China is becoming the dominant force in Australia’s automotive landscape, consider this.In the first six months of this year, 102,938 Chinese-made vehicles have been sold in Australia. Flash back five years to 2020, Chinese vehicle sales totalled just 11,055 in the same six-month period.That’s an 831 per cent increase in just five years. At this rate, China will overtake Thailand as the number two country of origin in Australia by next year. Japan is currently number one for imports, but for how long?Clearly a large number of Australians have no issue buying Chinese-built cars.The top 10 car brands for the first half of the year include Chinese giants GWM and BYD in seventh and eighth place respectively, while Tesla - which only imports cars to Australia from China - is ninth and SAIC-owned MG is just outside the table in eleventh.Yet looking at some of the commentary around this trend you’d be mistaken for thinking otherwise. There’s still a lot of negativity around Chinese brands and models despite the appetite for them here in Australia. But is it warranted?Honestly, it’s complicated.I appreciate some people have a moral issue buying a Chinese car given the long list of alleged current and historical human rights abuses carried out by the Chinese government. This is understandable.However, you could argue that if you take a stand against a particular country for historical human rights abuses there wouldn't be many countries left to buy cars from. The US isn’t exactly covering itself in glory when it comes to human rights at the moment.Other people take issue with the perceived quality of Chinese-made vehicles, in terms of build quality, materials and what they’re like to drive. And some of this concern is absolutely valid.The first crop of Chinese cars to hit Australia were, largely, awful. GWM, back in 2009 when it was just called Great Wall, served up some stinkers. The V240 SUV and X240 ute were terrible to drive, had poor build quality and the ute was even engulfed in an asbestos scandal.MG’s reboot as a Chinese-owned marque started in 2013 with the already dated MG6 sedan, but before it, Chery’s terrible trio of the J1 and J3 hatches and the J11 SUV ensured an early exit for the brand.Even some more recent attempts have been less than successful. Poorly calibrated advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) impacted Chery’s relaunch here a few years back with the Omoda 5, while even Deepal’s own company executives admitted the S07 EV was the most annoying car on sale in Australia thanks to incessant beeping and ADAS intervention.And, having driven a large number of Chinese cars currently on sale in Australia, I can confirm it is a mixed bag of good, bad and in between.But things are changing fast. I spent some time recently in China driving a raft of new models from BYD. While the test track was far too limited to develop decent drive impressions, it’s clear the overall quality of their cars has improved significantly. The interior design, materials used and even things like seat design impressed a lot of us hardened Aussie motoring writers.MG is on a roll at the minute, too. While I am yet to drive one myself, everyone that’s tested the MGS5 EV, including our very own Laura Berry, has raved about it. It’s like an SUV version of the already impressive MG4, only even better.GWM is consistently improving its models as it goes and having driven cars like the Tank 300 diesel and Haval H6 GT PHEV, I can confirm this to be true. Hiring noted former GM Holden engineer Rob Trubiani to tune its products will only help further.The quality of Tesla’s product improved greatly when Australian sourcing shifted from the USA to China a few years back.Granted, there are still some decidedly average cars in many of the Chinese brands’ model range.But to dismiss all cars from China is to fight a losing battle. Check those sales numbers again. Very soon half of the brands in the top 10 will be from China. GWM, MG and BYD all have ambitions for the top five or top three and some of the legacy brands aren’t doing much to stop them.I have had some alarming conversations with executives from legacy brands about China’s rise. I won’t name names, but multiple execs from top 10 brands have dismissed the popularity of Chinese brands in Australia and their potential to take over the industry. There is a sense from some that buyer loyalty will ultimately lead people back to long-standing brands.But this ignores the fact that hundreds of thousands of Australians don’t care about loyalty and they just want a good deal. And they are getting that in spades from the Chinese carmakers, much more than they are from the Japanese, Korean and European brands that have dominated for so long.So I guess what I am saying is, it might be time to get over the anti-China bias. Because you’re missing out on some pretty good cars. And in a few years there might not be as many non-Chinese brands to choose from.

We now know that Chery will be among the wave of new Chinese utes hitting Australia (think BYD, MG, GWM et al), with the relative newcomer to launch not one but two new utes.

Chery locks in its last hybrid SUV model before the end of 2026 as it blitzes as many categories as possible in top-10 race.