Omoda News

Chery sub-brand Omoda Jaecoo has pushed back plans for its Omoda 7 plug-in hybrid SUV in Australia. The Toyota RAV4-sized SUV had previously been earmarked for an arrival in the second half of 2026, but it will now not hit Aussie shores until next year.“We are looking at a 2027 release for the Omoda 7,” Omoda Jaecoo Chief Commercial Officer Roy Munoz told CarsGuide. “At this stage, we haven’t confirmed but it is likely to be in the first half of 2027.”The Omoda 7 will offer an alternative to other budget-oriented Chinese mid-size SUVs such as the Chery Tiggo 7, MG HS and Jaecoo J7. It will also provide competition for established players: the Hyundai Tucson, Kia Sportage and Toyota RAV4. Munoz confirmed the brand’s focus remained on Jaecoo, with more activity likely to come from the Omoda side in the coming months. It comes at a time when Jaecoo has seen significant growth in Australia through its electric J5 SUV.The only model listed for sale in Australia under the Omoda name is the brand’s flagship Omoda 9 PHEV large SUV, which Munoz said will get a minor update late this year. “We’ll definitely be focusing more on the Omoda brand later this year and into early next year,” Munoz said.  “Right now our focus is on building the Jaecoo brand, building awareness and building confidence in the market with that, but Omoda will be following suit shortly.”Details remain scarce on how the Omoda 7 will shape up in Australia, but overseas examples have a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine and electric motor set-up, producing 150kW and 365Nm. There is also a petrol version of the car, but it is unclear whether that variant of the car will come Down Under.We can expect more information on the Omoda 7’s future in Australia towards the end of this year. 

Nissan is set to invite Chery to build cars at its UK factory as part of its Re:Nissan project to downsize its manufacturing footprint, and take advantage of its spare factory capacity.This will give Nissan a boost by allowing it to cut costs at its Sunderland factory, while for Chery it means establishing a manufacturing footprint just across the channel from the European heartland.The agreement is just a Memorandum of Understanding for the time being, and also comes just after Nissan announced it had cancelled plans to manufacture electric powertrains at the factory.Nissan’s Sunderland plant in the UK may seem a world away from Australia, but the Nissan Qashqai sold here is built there, as was the just-discontinued Juke.The company said it would retain 100 per cent ownership of the factory, while re-tooling one of its production lines to manufacture Chery vehicles. While the announcement said little else for the time being, it has been reported that, if all goes to plan, Chery would start building cars at the factory in the 2027 financial year.The factory has a capacity of 500,000 units, but has been operating at just over half that for some time.Chery is understood to be planning to build right-hand drive vehicles at the factory to satisfy exploding demand for its vehicles in the UK with Omoda Jaecoo capturing up to a six per cent market share despite being on sale for barely 24 months.The runaway success of the Chery sub-brands in the UK market has made the Omoda/Jaecoo operation bullish in Australia, with the company’s global boss Shawn Xu telling CarsGuide last year that it’s not really a surprise how well the products have been received in Australia.“We’ve always looked at global markets, not just the traditional left-hand drive markets - and from this global vision, we want to build up and be a famous brand for the world,” he said.Most Chinese cars sold in Australia are sourced from either Thailand or China itself, but high tariffs and protectionist policies have a role to play in protecting companies like Volkswagen, Renault and Stellantis in Europe.Many Chinese marques are finding a way into the space by purchasing whole factories or signing deals to take up under-utilised production capacity in active factories on the continent.Whether any Euro-built models from Chinese brands make it to Australia remains to be seen, but seems less likely in the medium term as our island is a convenient way to soak up supply from increasingly under-utilised factories on the Chinese mainland as the domestic market there experiences a contraction.

Chery has just updated its Omoda 9 large SUV in China and it could be headed to Australia next. Omoda Jaecoo Chief Commercial Officer Roy Munoz told CarsGuide earlier this year to expect more activity on the Omoda front in Australia in 2026.This new Omoda 9 will not be a part of that push though, with the Omoda 7 expected to launch first, in the second half of this year. The updated Omoda 9 just revealed in China has not been confirmed for Australia, but if it does make its way here, it will be some time in 2027. There have been some minor updates for the new model, with tweaks to the exterior design representing an improvement drag coefficient, and subsequent fuel economy. Inside the cabin, Omoda claims there is a better air quality filter.The updated Omoda 9 is available in China with a 2.0-litre petrol engine, producing 192kW or 1.5-litre turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid set-up, producing 265kW.  The Chinese version now has a 20kWh battery, with an all-electric driving range of 120km, according to lenient CLTC standards. A DC fast charge from 30 to 80 per cent takes around 17 minutes. It is unclear what the new Omoda 9’s set-up choices might look like Down Under, but the current PHEV-only model has a 1.5-litre turbo-petrol engine and three electric motor set-up, producing 395kW. It is equipped with a much larger 34kWh battery pack granting it up to 169km of EV range.The Australian model is only available with all-wheel drive, but from 2027 all models in China are no longer optional with AWD. Chery Australia has been contacted for comment to establish whether this will be the same deal in Australia. The current model starts in Australia from $61,990 (before on-road costs), but this latest example in China will cost up to the equivalent of roughly $30,000. The Omoda 9 is the Chery sub-brand's only model on sale in Australia at the moment, and is the most expensive car in Chery Group’s domestic line-up.It will continue to be a rival to the BYD Sealion 6 as well as the closely-related Chery Tiggo 9.

Chery’s resurgence in the Australian market has been the product of intense model launches and booming sales to match, and it looks like the Chinese car brand will stay in Australia for good this time. Chery first launched in Australia in 2011, before making a swift exit around four years later, but since it returned Down Under in 2023, it has not looked back. Models such as the Chery Tiggo 4 have been a consistent feature of the best-selling cars in Australia recently, and are up more than 80 per cent for March 2026 compared to the same month in 2025.Part of Chery’s success is down to the affordable nature of many of its models. The Tiggo 4 is priced from $23,990 (drive-away), which is nearly $10,000 less than the Hyundai Kona – a key rival. Chery is putting down more roots in Australia by introducing a series of other brands under its ownership.Omoda Jaecoo has already launched in Australia, and the pair have several models on offer.The recently launched Jaecoo J5 EV has had a flying start to life in Australia, amassing more than 1100 sales so far in 2026, having gone on sale at the start of the year.The Chery family of brands is about to get significantly more crowded in Australia, with plans to introduce Lepas – a youth-focused brand – before the end of 2026. In 2027, the Freelander brand, spawning out of a partnership between Jaguar Land Rover and Chery will also come to Aussie shores. But with many of Chery’s brands sharing the same platforms and set-ups among vehicles, are styling tweaks enough to differentiate products?For example, the Chery Tiggo 4 and the newly announced Jaecoo J5 petrol share the same platform, engine and much of the same equipment, with Chery’s model $2000 cheaper than the Jaecoo. Omoda Jaecoo Chief Commercial Officer Roy Munoz said the brand will need to ensure it maintains its specific appeal to the market.“We are positioned in what I call a ‘mastige’ market,” Munoz said.“Being able to provide premium technology, comfort at a price point which is never before heard of.“We need to stay focused on our own brand values and make sure we connect with our customers and communicate those values and find our consumer base that way.”Munoz said Chery’s capacity to deliver rapid product cycles and diversity in powertrains enables it to keep things fresh across products in the group.He said the Omoda Jaecoo’s relationship with Chery has been an effective one so far. “Internally, we find our own synergies working together. Certainly there are shared functions and there are completely separated ones as well,” he said“It works well. We’ve got the much-needed support, which is required from shared functions and departments, but also enough delineation that we can position our brands in different points of the market where we can talk to different types of customers.“We’re not going to get everything right, but we can remain open-minded, and we have agility in our organisation.”

Chery sub-brand Omoda Jaecoo has signalled its desire to add a ute to its Australian line-up. Earlier this year, Chery unveiled its ‘KP31’ concept, which is scheduled to launch before the end of this year with a diesel plug-in hybrid powertrain. The brand also showed off a monocoque-chassis recreational ute concept late last year in China called 'T1TP', with local Chief Operating Officer Lucas Harris keen to bring such a product Down Under. “There have been some type approval documents and that sort of thing that people have found, which has the monocoque chassis P1TP ute,” Harris told CarsGuide previously.“It is absolutely something we are interested in. I think there is an interesting market for that,” he said.Harris went on to say this ute could fit under any of Chery's sub-brands, which includes Jaecoo, but it appears any monocoque ute would be contingent on the success of the KP31.Omoda Jaecoo’s Chief Commercial Officer in Australia Roy Munoz has put his hand up for the brand to receive a ute, and give it a different feel.It would diversify the brand’s portfolio beyond SUVs into the ute game and Munoz said Omoda Jaecoo needs a ute if it is going to compete in Australia. “Given that Chery as a group is working on the ute platform and powertrain, certainly it’s something we have access to under Omoda Jaecoo,” Munoz told CarsGuide.“Obviously Australians have a love of utes and to be a serious contender or player in Australia, you need that as part of your product portfolios.“If we can hit the market with a touch of masstige (mass market prestige) version of that, whatever that might look like, there will certainly be a market for it.“We’d love to see it. Nothing is off the table.”Jaecoo currently has three SUV models on sale in Australia, ranging from the small J5 to the mid-size J7 and the large J8. It looks like there are no plans for an Omoda Jaecoo ute to launch this year with the focus remaining on the success of the KP31 under the Chery name. 

Chery has released the first official images of its new Tiggo 7L medium SUV and it represents a significant design departure from the Chinese brand’s existing Tiggo line-up.Four Chery Tiggo models are already on sale in Australia, from the compact Tiggo 4, through the mid-size Tiggo 7, to the full-size Tiggo 8 and Tiggo 9 seven seaters.All offer hybrid propulsion options and each has a distinct look; traits which continue with the 7L newcomer.In China, the Tiggo 7 range consists of four models - Plus, High Performance Edition, Premium Edition and C-DM. Again, each with an individual design personality.The new car’s slim, angular headlights sit either side of a large, tapered grille with extra engine and brake cooling ducts lower down.Dark B-, C- and D-pillars create a ‘floating roof’ effect, 19-inch rims fill the wheel arches and the tail-lights illuminate with a jagged wave-like treatment. The minimalist interior features a two-tier dash connecting with indented door panels and a high centre console. Separate driver information and multimedia screens sit proud of the dash.The Tiggo 7L already exists in Russia, with this next-gen version its more contemporary replacement. It will be offered for Chinese domestic sale this time around as well as export to other selected markets, potentially as the Omoda C7.A Chery Motor Australia spokesperson told CarsGuide the company was “excited” to see the Tiggo 7L release, but “as it has only been released yesterday, there are no confirmed plans for Australia at this stage.”Powertrain details are yet to be detailed but expect to see a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder and seven-speed automatic transmission in two- and four-wheel drive configuration, currently rated at 110kW/275Nm in the Russian market.Another likely option is the 150kW/310Nm 1.5-litre turbo-petrol plug-in hybrid four-cylinder used in the Tiggo 7 CSH ‘Super Hybrid’.

You can't fit 10kg of dirt into a 5kg bag. That feels like an appropriate metaphor for the Australian car industry, where seemingly every few weeks a new car brand arrives to stake its claim on a piece of the market.

2025 was certainly the year of the new car brand coming to Australia.

No need for a local tuning program, at least not like GWM, according to Chery.

Yet another Chery sub-brand will hit our shores in 2026 - here's why the boss says it's not for regular SUV people.