How Chery is pushing into premium territory

New brands such as Chery are in a rush to push upward into territory held by European luxury marques.

Erin Holland hosted Vogue’s event with Chery earlier this month. Picture: Max Mason-Hubers

Ambitious Chinese car makers won’t wait patiently to tackle premium manufacturers in established markets.

While companies like Toyota and Nissan waited decades before taking on the likes of Mercedes-Benz, newcomers such as Chery won’t show the same restraint.

Steve Eum, vice president of design for Chery, “strongly believes” Chery can push into premium territory in short order.

Chery’s design team has big plans for models such as the Tiggo 4. Photo: Supplied

“Many premium brands started from humble beginnings and evolved into more established premium brands,” he said.

“We at Chery offer exceptional premium visual styling as well as high value technology content that is competitive with many international premium brands.

“As you can see in the current state of consumer products, many brands are taking a shorter amount of time to attain an aspirational status … from cars (such as Tesla) to other industrial products.

“We at Chery believe we have a very good product and design will play a big part in delivering that premium visual brand mission.”

Chery’s Lewis Lu, Vogue’s Edwina McCann and Chery designer Steve Eum. Picture: Rob Tennent

Eum visited Australia to launch the Chery Omoda E5 electric car and Tiggo 4 Pro SUV at an event presented by Vogue.

The glamorous event was part of the brand’s push into premium territory.

Its new models feature elements normally found in luxury cars, including heated front and rear seats, sophisticated digital displays and multi-coloured ambient lighting.

The auto stylist said Chery tried to take inspiration from all brands, including premium marques.

“Good design is good design,” he said.

2024 Chery Tiggo 8. Photo: Thomas Wielecki

“We could all learn from each other … but premium visual value is very important to show and is key to giving rich and high visual content. “Having said that, we strive to be as original and unique as possible going forward for our Chery brand.

“I believe with future competition we really need to look forward to a new edge in terms of not only styling but also the latest technology.”

That tech could take an unexpected shape.

Chery is experimenting with robot pets such as Dorry, an animatronic dog capable of conventional pup tricks such as sitting, laying down or shaking hands – and much more than that.

While robot dogs won’t be included in the boot of every Chery any time soon, stuff like this could help the brand speed up its transition from cut-price transport to broadly desirable vehicles.

Originally published as How Chery is pushing into premium territory