LEARN FIRST: Chery Omoda 5 – B-SUV CKD with 1.5T CVT, bold looks, high specs and Proton X50 price?
The Malaysian auto market, especially the already cramped SUV segment, will soon get hotter. Chinese automakers have targeted our market and are preparing to join the fray with B-segment bulk sellers Honda HR-V, Toyota Corolla Cross and Proton X50.
In many ways, the latter – and let’s not forget, their peerage, with just the Malaysian badge – shows that Malaysians can accept Chinese cars with modern design and specifications, at a lower price. Japanese car. Great Wall Motor will be put my Haval SUVs inas previewed at the Malaysia Autoshow last week, but Chery leads by much more.
Omoda 5 and Tiggo 8 Pro will launch in June/July and both SUVs will launch in CKD form – yes, there are no initial small batches of CBUs to ‘test’ but local assembly (at Inokom in KulimKedah) at the beginning, with Full EV And plug-in hybrid queue for the second wave. Another bold move is that Chery is taking Malaysia – a market that is difficult to penetrate – alone and without a local partner. Even the mighty BYD has Sime Darby.
Not sure which is more daring, the Malaysian solo Chery or the Omoda 5’s nail-studded nose, which is something you’ll either love or hate. The rest of the SUV body will be less divisive. It is a sculptural shape with black painted rear pillars and a full length strip for the tail, with Chery spelled out in letters. Very current. Turning my face aside, I see a bit of Lexus in the Omoda 5, which isn’t a bad thing. What do you think?
The dashboard of the Omoda 5 follows a similar trend, with the combined sports screens pioneered by Mercedes-Benz and the tall center console. While it’s nicely minimalist, you don’t have to delve into the touch screen to perform important controls such as AC functions, which are hidden in the trim.
Chery is perhaps the most internationally minded Chinese OEM, and the Omoda 5 has Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The same goes for wireless, and your phone sits at an angle for easy viewing. Speaking of phones, there’s also wireless charging. There’s also a sunroof (though not very large, and that’s manual) and an eight-speaker Sony sound system. And how about double glazed windows to enhance NVH?
There’s more, so take the full tour in the video, where Hafriz Shah also praises the Chery’s ability to switch right-hand drive, which is better than Geely-Proton’s efforts.
Open the hood (strut) and you’ll find a 1.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder making 154 hp (115 kW) and 230 Nm of torque, hence the 230T badge. Drive to the front wheels through a CVT gearbox with nine virtual ratios. We can confirm that the engine will be covered by the Chery’s 10 year/1,000,000 km warranty, which should raise reliability concerns.
Where does Chery’s in-house 1.5T stand on paper? The HR-V’s 1.5L VTEC Turbo four-cylinder makes 181 PS (178 hp) and 240 Nm, while the X50’s turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder makes 177 PS (174 hp). and 255 Nm in TGDi (Flagship variant) or 150 PS (148 hp) and 226 Nm in PFI form. The HR-V uses a CVT continuously variable transmission while the X50 uses a DCT transmission. our man running X50 Flagship, so what does he think about Omoda’s powertrain? Watch video.
Buyers will get a lot of specs and designs for their money, but for what? This fully loaded top-spec version will cost between the X50 Flagship (RM113,300) and HR-V Turbo VALUE (RM134,800) and we expect the RRP to be closer to the Proton than the Honda. Do we see some raised eyebrows? The official launch is coming soon, so stay tuned.
