Chinese cars coming to Australia
March 19, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
It’s official. Chinese cars will be here next year. Ateco, the Australian importer of European prestige brands such as Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Citroen and Fiat has just announced plans to import cars made by Chery Automobile Company.
The two companies have been in talks since late 2005 but the distributorship agreement was only executed earlier this month.
“We believe that China represents the future as a source of automotive products which makes this association with Chery a very exciting development for Ateco,” Ateco governing director, Neville Crichton said.
Ateco will import three Chery models to Australia next year, a light and a small passenger car as well as a small SUV. Depending on sales success, there is a good possibility of more models making their way here with Chery expected to expand its range with 38 new models over the next five years.
The SUV is more than likely going to be the Tiggo 3 (pictured above), the light car is still unknown while the small car could look something like this:
The A1 is a great attempt by Chery to enter the small car market. Utilising a front-wheel drive setup, the car was designed by struggling Italian design house Bertone. Currently it’s available with either a 1.1-litre (50kW @ 6000rpm and 90Nm @ 3500rpm) or a 1.3-litre engine (61kW @ 6000rpm and 114Nm @ 3800).
The A1 is only available with a five-speed manual gearbox and returns a fuel economy of around 6L/100km, according to official figures.
A national dealer network is currently in the works and all Chinese cars will be sold and badged as Chery.
The task to establish a new brand will be very difficult. Any early mishaps (e.g. bad ANCAP rating) could potentially damage the reputation of Chery irreparably. Nonetheless, with Ateco’s experience in public relations and marketing, Chery might just stand a chance.
Despite the many negatives we have seen over the last 12 months, with the likes of Chinese manufacturer Brilliance failing miserably in Europe, Chery is arguably the best of the Chinese automakers.
The company started building cars in late 1999 (yes, not that long ago) and managed to sell 1 million cars in its first 8 years of operation. In 2007 it sold 261,000 vehicles domestically and exported another 120,000.
Chery can currently manufacture 650,000 cars a year but plans to expand that to 1 million in the next few years. According to the company, all cars are produced in “ultra modern” factories using “extensive production equipment from overseas, usually Europe”. The company employs about 25,000 people.
It will be interesting to see how Ateco plans to advertise and market Chery next year. The Chinese brand will have a lot to prove and critics will undoubtedly give the company a hard time.
But the real issue is not about mishaps and negative reviews, it’s a core values question, if the price is right, would you buy a Chinese made Chery vehicle?
Print it: 
lots of racist crap here…
insecure bastards…
JT, how unaustralian of you.
i probably wont buy Chery cos they look odd.
but nor would i ever consider buying a holden or ford or hyundai..whatever… they’re crap
chinese quality is suffering, but that’s no reason to be racist. What the hell has tibet gonna do with chery? tibet was independent.. yeah as a 13th century theocracy, i’ve sure serfdom would sit you buggers fine…goes to show how ignorant you are.
its people like you that should drive cherys… especially on freeways
Ko012,
You are right, there is too many racist bogans/rednecks spoiling this site…. As if Holdens and Fords were any better…. If i were to chose between a holden, ford or hyundai… I’d take the hyundai!
I had a bad memory of those killed by cheap Chinese made motorcycles in my country Vietnam. China can make things cheap but not quality, Vietnamese brand is a lot better in quality but more expensive even though it is manufactured at home. I just mention a few things such as water pumps, fan, industrial blower, electric motors, motorcycles and other things Vietnam made. The price of Vietnamese pump 250 Watts is around $100, the Chinese pumps is $ 25 so Vietnamese pump is about four time more expensive than the imported Chinese. If any people wear clothes made in Vietnam then you know the quality.
I have an advice for all you guys
if you are rich buy a Roll Royce.
high income: buy European or American or Japanese Luxury brand.
average income: buy American, Japan, Korean
low income: buy Malaysian- Proton or Tata India
lastly If you commit to suicide Try Chinese car.
It is not a joke Chinese motorcycles kill a lot of Vietnamese.
I read some body comparing Chinese car with Korean and Japanese. What is wrong with you guys? I think those comparing Chinese car with Korean or Japanese car have no bran especially with Japanese. First Japanese has a long history of manufacturing. Japan has fully developed country and ranked second in the world in most advanced technological country after the USA. Japan has the most patents for more than 4 decades and still top the most innovative country about 3.5 times the USA as the result of researches and developments in Japan. Japan spend a lot of money for R&D, products by Japanese brand means quality and innovation. Japanese bullet trains are the most reliable, punctual and fast. Korean is similar to Japan they pouring heaps of money in R&D since ranked second. On the other hand China spend money to make weapons. I don’t want to write a lot about Japan, you guys do a research on Japan then you know more and don’t attempt to compare China with Japan or Korean.
k
I tell you what Japan lead the world in some industry OK
Automotive
motorcycle
Shipbuilding
robotics
electronics
machine tools
heavy industry
and bits and pieces such as tire, carbon fiber, titanium, special steel…
I dont really care how bad Chinese made things are, or Korean, Thia, South African, American, or wherever. What annoys me is that the Australian government is too lazy to keep this crap out of our country. We are a developed country with standards, yet junk keeps getting imported. Toxic kids toys, Electrical equipment that meets NONE of our standards, etc.
If these Chinese cars meet our standards, which are pretty strict (when enforced), then bring them on. If they dont, keep them out. Its not rocket science.
Its a touch late when someone has been killed by a piece of crap product to realise its below standard and then get rid of it.
Furthermore, there are crash test results, emission test results, all sorts of test results available, not to mention car reviews and online forums. Do your own research or your a fool.
The only way companies listen is if consumers talk with their wallets.
You know why you guys are all angry a feel superior?
Because your scared.
You make it sound like the Chinese OWN Australia something. You know what 3/4 of the world don’t even care or know about Australia.
China has customers in every country of the world and losing 20 odd million customers wont bother them a bit.
Its simple guys YOU PAY WHAT YOU GET, if you have been to China you would know the stuff there aren’t tacky as you would get here. The stuff are only tacky here because the importer chose to import cheap goods.
Now stop been racist you arrogant people, i feel sorry for your kids.
- Jas
If you don’t want imported stuff in OZ fine, have no competition and let your economy shrivel in the dust. I am not been nasty but just give these guys a chance. I am pretty sure that half of you guys are just racist and judge stuff when you hear “China”.
Give tme a fair go besides Without China’s reliance on importing our minerals we’ll probably be still relying on farming sheep for a living.
I am a Chinese, and I just read some of your guys talks. China is a word that you can not introduce it even in billion words. People, Products, Culture, Foods, ideology and History. Believe it or not, you guys talked much more about China but not this piece of news… I would like suggest you and very welcome Aussies go China to Learn from us and to help us do better.
LOL, if you don’t like the cars, don’t buy them.
Commenting in these forums are useless.
You people commenting in these forums don’t even own decent cars. If you did, you wouldn’t be here. I know that for a fact.
P.S. I own a SS ;)
All I can say is: Go the Euro cars!
I live overseas and i can tell how these cars look like, Simply ugly copies, zero safety standards, I hope that the ANCAP wouldn’t allow them on the road until they meet the standards, cause these are not pickup cars like the Mahindra: they are passenger cars.
Here are some videos of the Brilliance BS6 and Chery Amulet, folks you won’t believe how it collides
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHZqcKj7jNM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kQGAK550LE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7VSHCgjbt0
In case if you want to watch more crash tests, simply navigate to youtube website and write “chinese cars crash test”.I’d rather ride a bicycle than drive one of them.
to ford is nomber 1
ur a retard! ford is an import haha
so is holden nothing is made in australia
anymore get over it! get and education
and get a new job.
remember ford is yank
holden is made by gm in korea
i have been behind the wheel of all
asian cars and they are smoother faster
and better quality then gay fords.
i now own a celica gt4 turbo and i know
it flog any ford you have in any aspect.
and just so you know korean cars are
miles in front of ford hahahahaha
soon ford will go broke but do you think
the jap korean or chinese brands will?
think about that yank lover.
Is that,Ben Dover.
Go China, we waiting you!
Regardless what you think, the Chinese ARE coming to Oz.
The best thing [just like Proton] the others WILL have to act and lower prices, thats the BEST thing for us punters, MORE choices, less coin!
Chinese built their first car in the 1920s, and they have built a car industry of a mass scale since the 1950s. Now, China is the largest car producing country in the world. “Cheap” but “crap”. No doubt that they have this ability to export cheap but quality cars to Australia. Regarding the safety concern, I trust Australian safety standards and the ways they are implemented. If Chinese cars can pass them, I have no concern about their safety.