Omoda 9 vs Mercedes-Benz C250

What's the difference?

Does Australia need yet another new car brand?

It’s the question I keep asking myself seemingly every other week as a new brand announces its intention to join the other 70 odd marques already competing for a slice of the Australia new-car market.

Chery made a successful re-entry into the Australian market in 2023, quickly establishing itself as a value-led brand. Earlier this year it launched Jaecoo, its more premium, adventure-focused offering and announced it would be spun-off into separate showrooms alongside the new Omoda brand.

The first Omoda-badged vehicle has now arrived, the Omoda 9 Virtue SHS (Super Hybrid System), which will join the almost-as-new Jaecoo J7 and J8 in the growing number of dealers around Australia.

So, does Australia need Omoda? Does the Omoda 9 Virtue SHS make a compelling case, in the same way the sharply-priced Chery models have? 

Read on for our verdict.

If you’re picturing the premium mid-size segment in Australia, you’re almost certainly picturing Mercedes-Benz. Honestly, the premium carmaker has the kind of powerful and unquestioning stranglehold on the segment that would have despots and dictators turning green with envy.

The C-Class often outsells its nearest competitor by a factor of two to one. Even more impressive, that nearest competitor is another Mercedes, the CLA. Audi and BMW are left off in the middle distance, duking it out for third and fourth place.

So yes, the C-Class is a very important car for Mercedes. And this new one, updated for 2019, is even more so. It’s the first major update in the current car’s four-year lifespan, with a handful of exterior tweaks, some new key cabin technology and, most importantly, a new and clever engine option for its top-selling version.

So is that enough to keep the C-Class at the top of the mid-size pile?