Chery to launch Omoda 5 SUV with EV, ICE options in UK in 2024

Chinese car giant Chery will launch its new Omoda 5 crossover in the UK in early 2024 as the first of several models from a new ‘fashion’-focused and EV-biased brand at the forefront of the company’s global expansion.

Chery is China’s most prolific automotive export brand, selling 450,000 vehicles across Asia, Australia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East last year. It is perhaps best known in the UK as Jaguar Land Rover’s Chinese joint-venture partner and currently handles production of the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Jaguar XF and Jaguar XE for the local market.

Now, it is one of a number of Chinese companies branching out to Europe and, like rival Great Wall Motor has done with Ora, it will launch here with a new brand conceived with a focus on style, technology and sustainability.

It’s called Omoda – the ‘O’ representing “the bio element we need” and ‘moda’ pointing to the brand’s fashion focus – and will launch in the UK following roll-outs to the Chinese, Indonesian, Australian and New Zealand markets in 2022.

The first model to arrive in the UK will be the Omoda 5 - a mid-sized crossover available with a choice of pure-electric and petrol power. Chery says Omoda will be a BEV-focused brand in the UK, but Autocar understands the ICE car will be offered here initially. 

The fuel-burning options for the UK have not been confirmed, but in Australia the Omoda 5 is available with either a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre mild-hybridised four-cylinder unit driving the front axle and a 1.6-litre turbo four-cylinder producing 195bhp and 214lb ft.

Details are similarly unconfirmed on the EV, but reports suggest it uses a front-mounted motor with 198bhp and 295lb ft, powered by a 64kWh battery that nets a range of 280 miles on the WLTP cycle - figures that would make it a natural rival to the Toyota bZ4X and Nissan Ariya.

The Omoda 5’s distinctive cockpit is dominated by a wrap-around display hosting a pair of 10.25in high-definition screens, and while precise specification details remain to be confirmed, the brand highlights standard features including dual-zone climate control, a raft of advanced driver assistance features, wireless charging and ‘atmospheric’ interior lighting. 

When pressed for a price, a brand representative told Autocar only that the Omoda 5 will be “affordable and competitive”. A tag in the region of £45,000 would seem logical, based on the cars it will naturally be cross-shopped against. 

Omoda is targeting 10,000 annual sales in the UK for the 5 and promises “several new models” with a choice of ICE, PHEV and BEV powertrains to follow - although the prevailing focus will be on BEVs.

It remains unclear how the Omoda brand will be sold and marketed in the UK. The company said: “Chery has close and deepened cooperation with Jaguar Land Rover in China as a joint-venture company with a successful record of sales, so the UK is not a market which is unknown to Chery.” But the firm offered no details about plans for a retail footprint or sales model.