Does Australia need another car brand? Well, according to one automotive giant, it actually needs two.
The Australian new car market is bigger than it has ever been, with nearly 70 brands all competing for just over a million sales each year. Into this landscape Chery Motors is undertaking a huge expansion, launching the Jaecoo ‘semi-premium’ brand earlier this year and now adding Omoda, another ‘semi-premium’ offering.
Both of these brands will sit separately from Chery, which will remain value-focused, while the others sit in bespoke Omoda Jaecoo showrooms. There are already 32 Omoda Jaecoo dealerships established in Australia since Jaecoo arrived in March.
So why is Chery Motors expanding so rapidly? Omoda Jaecoo Chief Commercial Officer Roy Munoz explained that the two new brands, while similarly positioned as ‘semi-premium’ will appeal to different buyers.
Munoz explained that Omoda, which just launched the Omoda 9, will be a ‘fashion’ brand, while Jaecoo for ‘adventure lifestyle’ buyers for its J7 and J8 models.
“ Good question,” Munoz said when quizzed by Torquecafe. “I think from a brand marketing perspective they do speak to different sorts of customer types. So Omoda is your technology, fashion oriented almost like your crossover SUV-type brand. It’ll be largely new energy focused. Whereas your Jaecoo has been sort of your adventure focused vehicle sort of adventure lifestyle, and that’s at a sort of brand and marketing level from a product or technology level.
“Omoda will probably be more new energy focused and that’s why we’ve launched the Omoda 9 in the super hybrid and only in that trim as well. So we do need to have some sort of product differentiation as well, so at a product level, there’ll be differentiation also from the customer’s perspective as well.”
When pushed if the decision to launch two new brands into such a crowded new car market was being driven by the local Chery Motors management or Chinese head office, Munoz admitted that it is part of a wider, global strategy for the company to grow all three brands.
“ Look, there’s a part of it that’s aligning with global strategy,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s our job to actually balance that portfolio and to make sure that there’s something that appeals to people in, say, column A, Jaecoo or column B, Omoda. So it is a balancing act, but we’ll make sure that there’s a differentiation enough to appeal to a certain buyer for Omoda and a certain buyer for Jaecoo.”
Omoda hasn’t confirmed its next model, but the Omoda 7 is available in right-hand drive markets, so it’s the most likely new addition and should arrive in Australia sometime in 2026. While Jaecoo has already launched the J7 and J8, the smaller J5 is also set for addition to the local showrooms.
“ Yeah, there’s more in the pipeline that we are assessing with HQ for viability in our market,” Munoz said. “So potentially the UK has just sort of introduced the [Jaecoo] J5, so we’re looking at that model as well, but haven’t confirmed the launch date for that at this stage. But definitely across both brands, there are, let’s call it options, available to the Australian market.”
He added: “There is always a long-term plan, but until anything’s concrete, plans could change. So all we can share is that there is a longer term plan that Omoda will get more models. And it’s probably not so much long-term, it’s more of a medium-term thing.”
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