How many is too many? Chery to spin-off Omoda into its own brand alongside Jaecoo in Australia as it looks to take on Toyota, Kia, BYD, GWM and more

Chery may only have arrived in Australia a few years ago but the Chinese automotive giant has revealed major expansion plans.

The Omoda SUV will spin-off into its own brand, sitting alongside the new Jaecoo brand, which officially launched its first model this week.

The Omoda 5 and E5 SUVs will soon no longer be sold under the Chery brand and instead become a standalone offering across up to 40 specific Omoda-Jaecoo dealerships. Less than 20 per cent of Chery’s 80 Australian dealers are expected to have all three brands, ensuring the new Omoda-Jaecoo spin-off can establish itself as its own entity.

Chery Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Roy Munoz, said the decision to create separate showrooms was crucial to helping each brand establish itself independently.

“So our launch network will have separate showrooms to Chery,” Munoz told CarsGuide. “It's a separate brand essentially, so it will have its own representation, its own brand identity and its own customer experience as well.”

The Omoda and Jaecoo models will be pitched to buyers as a ‘more premium’ type of vehicle than Chery, but won’t be positioned as luxury vehicles and will continue to offer competitive pricing. For example, the new Jaecoo J7 mid-size SUV is priced from $34,990 drive-away for the 2WD Core, positioning it slightly above the $29,990 Chery Tiggo 7 Pro.

The plug-in hybrid J7, dubbed SHS Summit, starts at just $47,990 drive-away, to give the brand a direct challenger to the BYD Sealion 6.

Peter Matkin, Chery’s Director of Engineering for International Programs, oversees development across all brands and was in Australia for the launch of the Jaecoo J7. He explained that each brand is intended to have its own unique design and driving experience.

“ I think the cars have got different characters as well,” Matkin said. “They drive, you know, the Chery is very much… more family orientated, it's a softer ride. Or when we move to Omoda, it's much more sporty. And then we move into Jaecoo it's definitely a higher, [more] premium level than what you see in the other brands.

"And we've got even more, higher premium coming in the future. So we're trying to look for different customers and we're trying to engineer the cars to have different flavours.”

What the management team isn’t revealing is how quickly it expects these brands to grow, with only the facelifted Omoda 5 and E5 confirmed on that side and the J7 and larger J8 locked in for Jaecoo.

However, Munoz hinted at more to come, with the smaller Jaecoo J5 already unveiled in late 2024 and new J5 EV just debuting at the Bangkok Motor Show, while the Omoda 7 plug-in hybrid compact SUV has also been revealed for other international markets.

All are likely to Australia to give the new Omoda-Jaecoo dealers a broader range to sell.

“J8 also coming shortly after the J7, Omoda’s got a couple of models that have launched globally and we’ll launch also later this year,” Munoz said.

“So there isn't really a set number. Sort of both brands will have its fair share of models under each. But at this stage, what we can confirm is J7, J8 and as Omoda joins in the second half of the year, it'll have its own models as well.”