Chery E5 Reviews

Chinese brand Chery is ready to make its move against brands like MG, BYD and Great Wall - as well as the mainstream Japanese and Korean brands - in Australia, with a fleet of evaluation vehicles on route about to the country ahead of the nationwide launc

Episode 235 - EVs we miss out on!

Chinese brand Chery has trademarked its first model for Australia, and it's anything but a cut-price offering.Instead, the brand has registered the Exceed nameplate, reserved for its premium-feeling SUVs, with a host of models that could target everything

Chinese brand Chery could use the just-revealed Jetour TX as a launch halo vehicle in Australia, with the Ford Bronco-aping off-road SUV just revealed in China.The bite-sized but tough-as-nails SUV might look a little familiar, with the massively popular

Chinese brand Chery has detailed a new all-electric model that could be the cheapest new EV yet

Fuel pump fire risk prompts Chery J11 recall

China's automotive invasion appears to have faltered after a strong start.

Cars from China were poised to be the Next Big Thing but sales have tanked. It may go down in automotive history as the Great Fall of China. Despite promising to challenge the big brands when they arrived five years ago, sales of Chinese cars have plummeted as the cost of mainstream cars have limboed to new lows, squeezing out the cut-price competition. Deliveries of Chinese cars have been in freefall for more than 18 months, and the situation is so dire the distributor of Great Wall Motors and Chery vehicles stopped importing cars for at least two months. The Australian distributor says it was "renegotiating" prices with the Chinese car makers but dealers say they haven’t been able to order cars for up to six months. Sales of all Chinese cars have halved so far this year alone; Great Wall Motors sales are down by 54 per cent while Chery deliveries are down by 40 per cent, according to figures supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. Just 1782 cars from China have been sold in the first five months of this year, down from 3565 for the same period last year. At their peak in 2012, more than 12,100 Chinese cars were sold locally. There are now at least seven Chinese car brands on sale in Australia but Great Wall and Chery are the largest; the others are yet to publish sales figures. A spokesman for Ateco, the distributor of Great Wall Motors, Chery and Foton vehicles from China said there "a range of factors" for the sharp sales slowdown. "Primarily it is to do with currency," said Ateco spokesman Daniel Cotterill. "The massive devaluation of the Japanese Yen in early 2013 has meant that well established Japanese vehicle brands are able to be much more competitively priced in the Australian market than was the case when Great Wall launched here in mid 2009." He said new brands traditionally compete on price, but that price advantage had all but evaporated. "Where once a Great Wall ute might have had six or seven thousand dollars of price advantage over an established Japanese brand, that is not the case at the moment in many instances," said Cotterill. "Currency fluctuations are cyclical and we remain optimistic that our competitive price position will return. In the meantime it is business as usual." The sales downturn comes as Great Wall Motors has a management reshuffle in China after its all-new SUV had to be withdrawn from sales twice because of quality concerns. The Bloomberg news agency reported that the reshuffle comes after the company posted sales declines in five of the past six months. The company also has twice delayed the introduction of its key new model, the Haval H8 SUV. Last month, Great Wall said it will hold off on sales of the vehicle until it is able to make the H8 of a "premium standard." In May Bloomberg reported that Great Wall suspended sales of the H8 after customers reported hearing "knocking noises" in the transmission system. The Haval H8 was supposed to mark a turning point for Great Wall Motors and promised to meet European crash safety standards. A slightly smaller SUV, the Haval H6, was due to be sold in Australia this year but the distributor says its arrival has been delayed by negotiations over currency - not because of any safety concerns. The reputation of Great Wall Motors and Chery vehicles took a hit in Australia in late 2012 when 21,000 Great Wall utes and SUVs and 2250 Chery passenger cars were recalled for having parts containing asbestos. Sales of both brands have been in freefall ever since.

Ateco Automotive, which also imports Chery and Lotus cars, last week announced it had taken over the Australian distribution of Foton Tunland utes from Queensland-based FAA Automotive.Ateco last year took over the local distribution of Chinese-made Foton trucks from TransPacific Industries, which had struggled to sell the cut-price machines at the same dealerships as its Western Star trucks. Ateco spokesman, Daniel Cotterill, says the company was happy to have the Foton ute business although it didn't try to poach it from FAA.  "This development came at the request of Foton (in China)," Cotterill says. "They came to us and said that it is not working for whatever reason, let's do this."Cotterill says Ateco and Foton are still working out the details of the models it will use to re-launch the brand locally in the middle of this year. Working Wheels understands the crew cab version will be a certain starter, although the recently launched single cab may not be in the new line-up. Ateco is also not ready to start discussing prices of the Foton utes, but Cotterill says "we will come back with sharper pricing."Rivals have suggested Foton had initially asked too much for its crew cab ute, launched in 2002 from $28,000 to $35,000, and underestimated the caution with which most Australian customers approach a new brand from China. The Foton utes will not be as cheap as the Great Wall workhorses, which start from $17,990, partly because they use more brand name componentry such as Cummins engines and also because of higher quality levels.Cotterill says Great Wall was not worried that Ateco was taking on another ute brand because the company has already shown it can import rival brands without problems. Ateco will also consider passenger versions of Foton vehicles if they are made available for Australia. 

Surviving examples of the classic Leyland Moke may be worth serious money these days, but a new Australian firm is offering a brand new recreation of the model without the perils associated with 1960s British engineering.Moke Motors Australia has teamed up with Chinese manufacturer Chery to build an all-new but visually reminiscent version of the military-inspired but much adored original Leyland Moke.The new version pairs classic utilitarian ragtop styling with modern Chery mechanicals, and is slightly longer and slightly wider than the original to better accommodate four adults.These mechanicals include a 50kW/93Nm fuel-injected 993cc four-cylinder petrol engine and a five-speed manual or optional automatic sourced from the Chinese-market Chery QQ3 city car.The front-drive layout uses MacPherson strut suspension up front and solid-axle trailing arms at the rear, along with power steering and disk brakes up front.An electric eMoke version is also planned, with a top speed of 60km/h, range of 120km, and the ability to be recharge overnight.There are no airbags, ABS or stability control, so you may be wondering how a modern Moke would pass 2014 safety regulations? It doesn’t, but bypasses most ADRs through limited volume compliance – only 100 examples of each version can be registered per year.The modern Moke is able to be fully-registered for use on Australian roads and carries a two year/50,000km driveline warranty and five year corrosion guarantee. The man behind Moke Motors is Jim Markos, operator of Melbourne prestige used car dealership Black Rock Motors, and a 27 year veteran of the automotive industry.Markos claims that the arrangement between Moke Motors and Chery is the first time that a mainstream car manufacturer has produced vehicles under contract from a private company, and is the result of a seven year development program.He also plans to sell the new Moke in the Caribbean, Thailand and Mauritius, and has received interest from Greece, Cyprus and Turkey. Moke Motors is yet to appoint service agents for the new models, but discussions are underway to use the local Chery service network.Production is set to commence at the start of May, but the entire 2014 production run has already been presold. The first examples are set to be delivered in June and Moke Motors is taking orders for 2015.Pricing starts at a Mazda 3 Maxx-matching $22,990 before on-roads, but we reckon more than a few will be cruising the beach esplanades next summer.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn