Chery

a walk through Beijing, Ebro, Chery and the silent streets

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This is the third time in two years that I have visited China. The first time was for visit OnePlus and OPPO headquarters in Guandong. The second, for get into the kitchen at the Honor factory and headquarters in Shenzhen. Now I do it for something totally different and that’s why I would like to do something different. I tell you. On this occasion I accompanied Ebro, yes, the car company of the Chery group, to the Beijing Motor Show and the Chery headquarters in Wuhu. And I do it for a reason: cars, historically, have not been my greatest passion, but now, at almost 32 years of age and with a view to starting a family, I am thinking about changing cars and I know China has a lot to say about this.. In Córdoba, my city, everything always arrives late. I mean, relatively recently they opened the first bowling place. açaito give you an idea. That’s why I know that something is changing, because every time I take my car, a small Seat Ibiza, I see cars from brands on the road that I didn’t see two years ago: Omoda, Jaecoo, Ebro, MG and BYD, mainly. Understanding his success requires understanding the context of his native country. and, to do this, there is nothing better than coming to it and experiencing it first-hand. And that’s why I propose something to you. Ebro S900 PHEV | Image: Ebro I propose that we live this together through a kind of daily blog in which I will tell you what I have seen, what I have learned and what things have caught my attention. Not from the perspective of an engine expert, but from the curious point of view of someone who knows that A new car is part of your next stage in life and you can’t stop seeing how Chinese brands are becoming more and more popular. Together we will visit the Beijing Motor Show, we will tour the streets of the Chinese capital, we will travel to Wuhu and we will see what and how is cooked in the bowels of Chery. That’s why I think the first thing is to put ourselves in context. At the group level, Chery takes bronze in the Chinese market, only behind BYD and Geely. Only in 2025, the firm sold 2,860,393 cars exactly, which is said soon. Chery, in turn, has several brands and subsidiaries such as Chery Automobile (where we find Chery New Energy and Fulwin), Omoda, Jaecoo, Lepas, Zongheng, Luxeed (along with Huawei), Exeed, Jetour, Karry, iCar, Rely, Soueast and the Chery Jaguar Land Rover joint venture. Its most famous products are, without a doubt, the Tiggo and the Arizo. Omoda, Jaecoo, Lepas (arrives in Spain this year) and Exlantix (in China it is Exeed and will arrive in Spain next year) are the brands that the company uses to boost your export strategy. Ebro, for his part, It is a joint venture established in 2024 between Chery and Ebro EV. Roughly speaking, this partnership allows Chery to assemble vehicles at the former Nissan plant in Barcelona and distribute them in Spain and Portugal under the (revived) Ebro brand. It’s a little more complex, but let’s stick with that idea. Tiggo 9 | Image: Xataka Actually, Ebro cars use Omoda platforms | Jaecoo (with some adjustments, for example in the suspension) and these, in turn, are the exported versions of the Tiggo. He Omoda 9 SHS It is, clearly, a Tiggo 9. Why so much branding? Because so they can attack different market segments with specific models and strategieshas no more. It is exactly the same thing that other Chinese groups such as Geely do, which has Geely, a large part of Volvo and Polestar, almost half of Proton Holdings, Zeekr or Lynk&Co, to name just a few. Aito M7, the electric SUV owned by Huawei | Image: Xataka Having said that and having that context, the first thing that has caught my attention in the short time I have been in China is how ubiquitous local brands are. I’ve seen endless BYD, Xpeng, Leapmotor, Nio, BAIC and ArcFox. I have even had the chance to see a couple of Xiaomi SU7s. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes or Audi, because there are, but it gives me the impression that they have a more luxury component. From the models I have seen, I get the feeling that European cars still have a certain premium aroma here. Toyota, Hyundai and Honda are also relatively common, but the omnipresence of local brands is evident. One of the few Chery that we have seen in Beijing Something that stands out in Beijing, where I am right now, is that you hardly see Chery cars. There are, a priori, three reasons: Chery​ is a great exporteris a Chinese brand whose power is not in China (despite being one of the best-selling brands), but in the international market. It makes sense, since abroad there is much, much, much less competition than in the local market and, above all, in the big capitals. We are in Beijing, a Tier 1 city. There is more capital and users are looking for higher-end/premium products, which explains the greater presence of Tesla, European, electric brands such as Nio or Arcfox and, above all, BAIC (Beijing Automotive Industry Holding). BAIC is a local brand and all taxis are BAIC. Arcfox is BAIC’s premium electric range. The registration system. Buying a car in Beijing is not about going to the dealership and that’s it. To avoid pollution, the government established a points and lottery system to obtain permission to buy a car. Gasoline cars go by lottery and the chances are tiny, 0.1%. New Energy cars (electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, etc.) are on a waiting list. It is long, very long, but unlike the lottery, it is safe. If you want a car in Beijing, the easiest thing is to buy an electric one and there … Read more

All about Lepas, the new Chery Group brand that arrives in Spain with Chinese cars designed specifically for Europe

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Spain is experiencing a flood of Chinese brands in the automobile market. Manufacturers from this country have considered that Spain is a perfect country for their entry into the European market. Their reasons: key ports to unload cars and a customer who values ​​the quality/price/equipment ratio above brand loyalty. This is candy for Chinese companies. These brands have the challenge of winning over the customer with new models whose added value is, as a general rule, a very attractive price compared to the offer of Western vehicles, always with the same size, equipment and/or technology. With all this in mind, the Chery Group has started in Spain with Omoda and Jaecooin addition to Ebro Although it is a brand with Spanish capital, it uses the models that arrive in kits to Barcelona to build its own cars in our country. To these companies is now added Lepas. Chery will have a third own brand in Spain as a first step in an expansion that should continue throughout Europe soon. The objective is to put on the market a car that begins to target the premium market. This is your plan. What is Lepas and where does it come from? Lepas will be the third brand of the Chery Group to arrive in our country and is the youngest company of the automobile conglomerate since it was created in 2024. It must be taken into account that Chery already sells the Omoda and Jaecoo brands in China but also Jetour, iCar or Exeed. The name, they point out, is the mixture of “Leopard” and “Passion” and aims to position itself as an alternative company created specifically for Europe. It must be taken into account that Chery Group was founded in 1997 and has been exporting cars outside of China for more than 20 years. Its main market, until its arrival in Europe, was South America, but the objective is to continue expanding its borders in the coming years. With this roadmap in mind, Lepas will position itself as a brand designed by and for Europe. Its cars will be Chinese but the brand assures that it is about “responding to new customer profiles in different markets”, so the differentiation with Omoda and Jaecoo should be evident in the next launches. Omoda is, right now, the most youthful brand in Chery’s catalog. The conglomerate has positioned this company as an attractive bet for the most urban client, with a striking aesthetic and somewhat more aggressive or sporty shapes. Jaecoo is committed to the more rural market, with more or less mild offroad ambitions and a somewhat more country aesthetic. Lepas will occupy a slightly more refined position. The shapes of their cars, we assume seeing their first launch, will be softer and less aggressive. Everything indicates that Chery wants to have in Lepas an alternative with a slightly more premium character than its two previous brands. We are not talking about fighting with Audi or Mercedes but we are talking about playing in a league superior to the general league, halfway between both worlds. Lepas L8 Lepas L8, his first car For now, the Lepas landing comes with the Lepas L8. This car is an SUV 4.68 meters long, 1.87 meters wide and 1.69 meters high with a clear family vocation thanks to a trunk capacity of 507 liters. As a plug-in hybrid, it promises a range of up to 1,300 kilometers following a scheme that is common in other models of the group: 1.5 TGDI engine with dedicated DHT hybrid transmission and offers 205 kW (279 HP) of power and 365 Nm of torque. The promised electric range is up to 100 kilometers supported by an 18.4 kWh battery. Interior of the Lepas L8 The car is built on a multi-energy platform that allows plug-in hybrid versions to be put on the market, like this case, and completely electric or extended-range electric options. The latter is a type of car that works the vast majority of the time as an electric car and has a small gasoline tank to generate electricity and support electrical technology in case of emergency. The interior of this Lepas L8 has a steering wheel similar to that of the Omoda 9 so we found soft plastics and attractive design of the steering wheel, with only two horizontal spokes. It has wireless charging for your mobile phone and a large vertical screen. It is a differentiation from the Omoda options, whose screen is horizontal. Some functions with physical buttons are also maintained, although the air conditioning is carried out on the screen. The company points out that the car will arrive with more than 20 ADAS driving assistance systems, including adaptive cruise control, parking assistant (with remote parking) or “540º panoramic camera.” In the future In addition to this Lepas L8, the company’s roadmap involves continuing to send cars to our market. We are talking about the Lepas L4 and L6. At the moment, we know very little about these two cars. Yes we have confirmed that the Lepas L4 is an urban SUVof about 4.30 meters that will help the company to lower the price of entry to the brand. We are not clear, however, what the technology will be and if it will be based on exclusively electric specifications or will add options with combustion engines. The little progress that the brand has made is that the car is already being manufactured in Wuhu, where the Chery Group headquarters is located. As for the Lepas L6 we find ourselves in the same situation but this time we are talking about a compact SUV. We will know the details throughout the year. If we talk about its launch. The company’s roadmap involves putting the first cars on the market at the end of this first half of 2026. Therefore, all the details of the Lepas L8 and the first contacts should arrive shortly before the summer. In the coming months we should know all the … Read more

Chery trusted Spain to assault the European market without tariffs. Europe has another opinion

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Europe, China and cars. A bomb that, for now, has resulted in the imposition of tariffs on the electric car. The European objective is that Chinese manufacturers invest in Europe if they want to sell their electric cars at the price that pleases them. Chery thought that Spain would be his gateway to the market of our continent. The European Commission believes that it is not enough. “It’s not a good model”. The definition is by the Executive Vice President of the Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné. The Frenchman expressed in these terms collected by The newspaperwhile ensuring that relations between China and Europe are “in the midst of nowhere.” What is about the model that Chery has implemented in Barcelona, ​​a factory where, at least for the moment, only cars that previously arrive mounted from China are completed. It is the easiest way to put the label Made in Spain to a product that, in reality, has very little of Spanish. DKD. Or, what is the same, Direct Knock Down. This is what the way of working is called that Chery employ in Barcelona. In summary, cars arrive in semi -ado containers and the only thing that is done in Spain is to finish marrying the last parts as if they were the four large groups of pieces of a puzzle that, in reality, is made up of thousands of them. The process is so advanced that, in fact, cars in Barcelona are not even painted. The intention, in the future, is to jump to the CKD (Complete Knock Down), in which the pieces do not arrive welded or painted but do produce entirely in China. The cars produced under this system are the Ebro that, although rescue the name of a Spanish brand, They are actually entirely Chinese. “Low quality”. In his statements, Séjourné, has insisted that “a factory on the outskirts of Barcelona in which a car occurs with all Chinese components generates Low quality jobs And it does not suppose any added value for the European industry. “And he emphasizes:” The solution does not go on to maintain tariffs, but neither by a factory in Barcelona in which cars are assembled with all Chinese components. “ Although hard, the words of the vice president of the commission are not new in the car market. In fact, Chery had already received Europe’s notice that, working in this way would not free him from tariffs to his electric cars. At the moment, the Omoda 5 and Jaecoo 7 They continue to arrive from China but as they have combustion engines they are not taxed with tariffs. The electric omoda 5, however, is punished with a fee that in the case of Chery reaches 21% (which adds to 10% base for all cars from China, electric and non -electric). It is no accident that the company has delayed its incorporation to the Catalan plant without the confirmation of taking out its cars through the doors of the free zone without being punished with tariffs. “In nobody’s land”. As we said, Séjourné pointed out that negotiations between Europe and China are stopped. In his day, Europe taxed tariffs on Chinese electric cars but left the door open to those who take combustion engines, both pure and plug -in hybrids. This was seen as a hand tended to negotiation. Not imposing tariffs on this type of cars has allowed Chinese brands to have taken advantage of the entrance door of countries where cheaper cars are bought, such as Spain. In fact, Chery herself with just six cars in the market (distributed between Ebro, Omoda and Jaecoo) They already add more than 19,800 units In the first eight months of the year. And only three of those six cars have been selling the full year. That open door to a negotiation seemed to consolidate a few months ago. In April it was confirmed that Europe and China seemed willing to reach some kind of agreement between the two countries. The last thing we have known since then have been these last statements. They are not the only. What Europe wants is that Chinese manufacturers invest in our continent and generate business here. To skip those tariffs, everything indicates that companies have to assemble their cars in our soil but also generate a local industry that generates value through the Component provision. This way of acting by Chinese manufacturers is not something exclusive that they do in Europe. Byd is used very similarly in Thailand. But European manufacturers are also used in the same way in those markets that are veiled with tariffs, as happens in Algeria. Country that, tired of these practices, has already warned Renault that they will have to invest more money. Photo | Ebro In Xataka | That Chery has chosen Spain is not accidental: it may be its saving letter to the investigations of the European Commission

Chery believes that China can get the same quality as Europeans in half of time. And in Spain it is working

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Speed ​​and adaptability. Those are two of the pillars on which Chery’s strategy is based on Europe. The company has broken into the Spanish market with force despite having a handful of models distributed among three different companies. Lilian Xiong, Vice President of Chery, explains why these Chinese brands have managed to advance so fast. “We need three or four years”. That is time, according to Xiong, those who need to build a car like omoda 9 “since we design the initial concept until we have the model.” Words pick them up Business Insider in an interview with the board. In it, he explains that his ability to adapt and speed are two of the great differences that exist with Europeans. And, in fact, The round trip between Europe and China It is a good example of how this is happening. While in Europe, Chinese cars do not stop gaining land, in China the western ones lose it by Not knowing how to adapt to the tastes of the local market. We know what they are talking about. As we explain when Xiaomi presented its novel interior For the Xiaomi Yu7, in Xataka We have had the opportunity to know the speed with which Chinese brands work. In informal talks, workers of these companies have explained that the proposals that in European groups would extend for years here apply it in a few months. We know that some cars have arrived in versions of preiest very little adjusted to what the Spanish public claims and shortly after they have presented themselves to the press and have put themselves in the concessionaires with the suspension and the refined direction. Components have even changed in the vehicle itself. Adaptation. That ability to adapt is another of the great advantages that Chinese cars are offering. Chery cars (omoda, Jaecoo and Ebro) are being refined in Europe to adapt to what the European public expects. Xiong points out that for that, its Barcelona plant is key since they did a previous job before confirming the landing. But not just them, Leapmotor is refining her cars in BaloccoAlfa Romeo’s house, to put cars that do not small suspensions and extraordinarily soft directions, as is the case in China. Also byd has proposed to do the same using Your Hungary plant and the new departments that Xpeng is opening in Germany They also point to that address. The software. Another key piece to attract the public is that cars begin to be defined by the software and not so much for the hardware. “Before producing a car was based on the assembly of pieces. Now they are much more important elements such as software, which will mark a great change in industry,” says Xiong in the interview. This, in a market where the car has increased and interior materials are no longer as luxurious as before, it is key. You just have to get on board the Omoda 5 To verify that the quality of its camera is much better than that of European rivals despite having a lower cost. Or what OMODA 9 equipment is very wide (Electric seats, heated and ventilated with massage, speakers integrated in the headrests, 14 speakers Sony equipment …) offering better impression than most of its rivals. It shows in the price. That approach of focusing on the software and not so much on the hardware, understood as the body and the vehicle’s chassis, is not unique to Chery. Specialists in riding and disassembling cars They already alerted Toyota a few months ago that his way of working was becoming obsolete. The problem is that the Japanese had taken an extreme care in Perfect even the unspeakable carspaying maximum attention to every detail. However, Byd or Tesla saved many pieces, kilos and money in their vehicles because they use greater number of plastic components instead of heavy metals. Without vibrations of the combustion engine, the dashboard parts were subjected to less stress. And also in time. All this allows them to reduce the price and increase the profit margin thanks to a less complex and faster production. Focusing “what is seen” more than in the bowels of the vehicle is a decision that is conquering the public. In what we have been, the Chery group has enrolled in Spain more than 11,000 cars, which places them at the same level as Opel and begin to approach Ford or Citroën. However, all of the above are marks settled while Omoda arrived with 2024 already startedJaecoo did not do the same until second half of the year and Ebro only has a handful of months Selling their cars in our country. And, above all, they have managed to add more than 11,000 registrations between January and May despite the fact that until the arrival of omoda 9 and the Ebro S800 They had more than three cars in the market (one for each of them) and they are still a newcomer company. So newcomer that, in fact, omoda is only three years behind. Photo | Omoda In Xataka | Family and friends keep asking me if “it is worth buying a Chinese car.” This is my answer

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