Chery Tiggo 4 PRO vs Ford Transit

What's the difference?

Chery would likely prefer you forget its initial foray into the Australian market, but doing so would do a disservice to the brand.

We don’t need to go into the nitty gritty of what went wrong back then, but needless to say the first Chery models of around 15 years ago were not particularly good.

Since its return in 2022 Chery is unrecognisable from that first attempt at cracking this market. The Omoda 5, the first model of its relaunch, was flawed but light years ahead of the earlier models in terms of design, presentation and build quality.

It has since expanded with the larger Tiggo 7 Pro and Tiggo 8 Pro Max SUVs and then in late 2024 it added this, the Tiggo 4 Pro. This is Chery’s answer to the likes of the Hyundai Venue, Mazda CX-30, Toyota Yaris Cross, etc in what’s known as the ‘light SUV’ segment.

Chery had a very good 2024, more than doubling its sales, so there are clear signs the brand is enjoying far greater success with its second attempt in Australia.

But is the Tiggo 4 Pro worth buying, if you’re in the market for a compact SUV? Let’s answer that question as we go through all the details.

Meet Ford’s electric pioneer for Australia - the E-Transit.

It may not be as exciting as a Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan or Audi e-tron, but this electric version of the Blue Oval’s large van will help create a new market for zero-emissions commercial vehicles. 

This is seen as a major opportunity by Ford to provide an electric alternative to typically diesel-powered vans, which will no doubt prove popular with fleet operators looking to cut fuel costs and corporate emissions. While unlikely to suit all van buyers, thanks to its limited range and recharging restrictions, for those companies with shorter delivery routes it will certainly have appeal.

Ford’s research (performed by YouGov) suggests up to 58 per cent of business “can see EVs becoming part of their vehicle fleet in the future".

But it’s just Ford’s first step into the larger world of electric vehicles. We’ve already had confirmation the smaller E-Transit Custom is headed our way and there are good odds the Mustang Mach-E will eventually find its way to Australian showrooms, so there’s plenty of exciting models in store for Ford.

In the meantime, though, the E-Transit isn’t due in Australia until sometime in the first half of 2023, but CarsGuide was able to take one for a test drive near Ford’s Detroit headquarters recently to get a taste of what’s to come.