Australia doesn’t have too many car brands, says one of its newest arrivals

Australia has room for more car brands despite an influx of new automakers, according to Omoda Jaecoo’s chief operating officer, but parent company Chery isn’t imminently adding more to its local product offering.

Speaking at the launch of the Omoda 9 plug-in hybrid SUV – the priciest model yet from the fledgling Omoda Jaecoo brand – chief operating officer Roy Muñoz said having more brands benefits Australian new car buyers. 

“It’s a good question,” Mr Muñoz told media, including CarExpert when asked about launching a new marque to compete with more than 70 existing brands in Australia’s relatively small sales market of around 1.2 million vehicles annually. 

“I think there’s always room for new technology, a new brand – whether it’s brand new or not – but new technology, certainly, and a different market position for Omoda Jaecoo.”

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“I welcome competition because it breeds innovation, improves everyone’s product offering and it gives more choice for Australians.”

Omoda Jaecoo – pitched as being more upmarket than Chery’s namesake brand – was announced in Australia earlier this year, with the Omoda name previously used on the Chery Omoda 5 and Omoda E5 SUVs that are now known as the Chery C5 and E5 respectively.

It joins a raft of new and emerging makes including Zeekr, Denza and likely others in an already saturated Australian new car market.

“In terms of do we need another brand – well I think it’s great that Australians are spoilt for choice, right – and we’ll let them decide what suits their lifestyles and what suits their driving,” Mr Muñoz said.

“Omoda and Jaecoo obviously speak to different customers and market to different positioning of the product itself [compared to Chery].”

“If you can find your niche – which we’re still in the process of identifying our customer – but if you can do that… and, looking beyond the product itself, where you can differentiate your brand rather than just looking at the physical product.”

While the brand is called Omoda Jaecoo, the brand sells a variety of vehicles with either Omoda or Jaecoo badging with the latter having more traditional SUV styling.

Omoda Jaecoo is one of almost a dozen of brands Chery offers in various countries around the world, which includes Exeed, Jetour and iCaur.

While Chery Australia hasn’t confirmed any additional brands – telling CarExpert it’s currently focused on its Chery and Omoda Jaecoo brands – it hasn’t ruled out adding to its offering in future. 

When asked about iCaur, which recently unveiled its Toyota LandCruiser-rivalling V27 large SUV, Mr Muñoz wouldn’t confirm or reject the brand coming to Australia.

“It comes back to – if you find your niche, you find your customer, anything can work.”

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