Chery Motors, one of the biggest automobile company in China,has become big, long enough to race with other major Chinese brands such as Geely Motor, BYD and Great Wall Motors. Chery also returned in full force, selling more than 1 million vehicles in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 28%. The fast development speed also ranked Chery among the top 10 Chinese vehicle brands both at home and abroad.
Chery’s product matrix is also comprehensive, with complete coverage of the popular Tiggo and Arrizo series. For example, by offering a compact SUV with the price and performance of this Tiggo 8 (about ¥120,000 or $17k to start), adding up-, across- and squickering-market all over. Chery would be sure to make a case for value here by pointing out that the Tiggo 8 comes loaded with tech—like a 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen, adaptive cruise control, and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS)—while remaining aggressively priced. Even the price is competitive with an asking price that clearly reaches a little beneath what Geely's Boyue19 or BYD’s Tang9 luxury subsidiary are popular models among China's most budget-aware consumers.
Chery has also been most successful in this area of exports, pushing cars out to over 80 countries. Notably, Chery has been the leading Chinese exporter of passenger cars in 19 consecutive years. So far this year, Chery has exported 269,104 units worldwide In recognition of its global brand image. Such figures render Chery the largest Chinese brand in overseas markets, outranking great performing local Geely and its limited export lineup.
What really sets Chery apart is its commitment to R&D. The company allocates 7% of its total yearly revenue on R&D specifically to electric vehicles and hybrid technology. This in turn has spawned Chery's new all-electric brand iCAR that will rival BYD with various EV offerings. With over 1.8 million units sold by 2022, China's BYD is the top Chinese electric vehicle brand in terms of sales but Chery also has been increasing its share with models like the eQ1 which serves as an affordable city car aimed a younger, eco-conscious buyer crowd.
Chery has made great strides in reliability during the past decade. Chinese car brands have had their black marks for quality control in the past, but Chery has poured resources into its own Quality Management System. The automaker has a 10-year/1-million-kilometer warranty in place on its vehicles, which goes beyond industry standards and provides reassurance over the brand for most buyers. For such a bug brand as Chery, this is not a common offer — unlike Great Wall Motors or Geely brands significant advantage in customer assurance provided by the extended warranty
Jack Ma, the co-founder of Alibaba, once said that “In an internet age, every company needs to be a global company”. Cherys global strategy echoes this vision, as it aims to grow its presence in regions such as South America, the Middle East and Africa. Focusing on the developing world, Chery will use its value pricing and well-built cars to woo a host of new customers, clearly setting it apart from more premium or domestic-focused Chinese brands.
As to how chery stacks up against other Chinese brands, its pricing, export dominance, and rapidly improving reliability score it well. On the one hand Geely and BYD stand out more as innovators, particularly in the EV space, but Chery's supporting all of this with a broad range of affordable new cars that are still world-class in terms of design and engineering strengths which to me puts them very close to the top on China's auto-maker ladder.