Chery Australia is prioritizing improvements to driver-assistance software over local hardware tweaks as it works to make cars more suited to local conditions.
While some car manufacturers develop local suspension and steering systems for their vehicles to better suit Australia’s unique road conditions, Chery said the company plans to invest in those areas in the future.
Meanwhile, the focus remains on improving the calibration of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) such as driver monitoring, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping assist.
Chery Australia CEO Lucas Harris has previously acknowledged The brand has had a rocky start to its relaunch in Australia in 2023, after receiving criticism over the calibration of its ADAS technology.
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At the new product launch Omoda E5Mr. Harris said Car expert that it would be easier to address those criticisms in the short term, before rolling out hardware upgrades.
“Dynamic handling, steering and suspension take a long time to test and make changes. Things like ADAS and DMS are just software, so the lead cycle to make improvements is much shorter,” says Harris.
“When the driver assistance systems are bad, it becomes obvious to the consumer. The handling dynamics have to be really bad for the average consumer.
“We focus on driver aids because that’s what most people will feel very quickly, immediately. And we get to them much faster.
“We are working on things like dynamic handling, we are always talking to the factory, but it will probably be the next generation of cars before you see those improvements.”
Chery is finalizing its namesake brand line this year before introducing a separate product line. Jaecoo brand early next year.
After dealing with some initial issues since Chery Down Under’s relaunch, Mr. Harris expects Jaecoo to have a smoother launch.
“I think we learned some good lessons from Chery about local testing and tuning, which was a hurdle for us at the beginning and Jaecoo will benefit from that,” Mr Harris explained.
“We are fixing those issues and the volume is increasing a lot.
“The Jaecoo won’t have speed bumps, so we expect it to have a quicker start right from the start.”
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