“I can proudly say that we are the fastest expanding auto brand in the world,” said Shawn Xu, global CEO of Omoda & Jaecoo at Auto China 2024 in Beijing. More than just criticism or self-praise, The Chery International branch also makes that bold statement based on both market expansion results and actual sales data.
Officially launched just a year ago, Omoda & Jaecoo (cutely known as O&J) has aggressively expanded globally, successfully entering more than 40 high-potential markets, including Malaysia. The number of dealer networks in those markets now stands at 873. It’s been a terrible launch year.
Of note is the recent opening of an assembly plant in Spain, as part of the brand’s “European campaign” – notably this is the first car manufacturing facility in Europe by a operated by the Chinese automaker. Local manufacturing is important to O&J, following its “Somewhere, For Somewhere” philosophy to promote globalization while supporting localization.
Omoda & Jaecoo are also the fastest growing auto brands in terms of sales. It only took them 5 months to reach the milestone of 50,000 units and another three months to reach 100,000 units. In its first year of sales, O&J’s global sales exceeded 160,000 units – the fastest ever recorded for a young car brand.
Please note, these numbers only count cars sold with Omoda or Jaecoo badges and do not include Chery Tansuo 6 models sold in China (basically the Jaecoo J7 with a different name).
Now if you are reading this in Malaysia, you may be wondering why both Omoda and Jaecoo are considered a single “brand”. After all, Omoda 5 sold as Chery here, while Jaecoo will stand on his own two feet very soon. Well, brand is probably not the right term to use – the division is a bit more precise.
You see, Chery International recently decided to split its many brands into three sub-divisions – Chery, Exeed and Omoda & Jaecoo, with the last two merging into one – each with its own CEO and team. own senior management. However, some new markets require a more appropriate approach.
Malaysia is a prime example, where Chery International needed to make a big splash right from the start. The Omoda 5 was chosen because of its high market relevance, so Chery decided to launch it first – and what a treat. The inspired choice proved to be! Jaecoo will soon try to enter the market as a separate entity and will eventually absorb the Omoda brand back in the long run.
Confused? So do we, but that’s the Chinese car brand for you. Over the years we’ve gotten to know the Geely team and they now have Geometry, Galaxy, Lynk & Co, Zeekr, Radar and Jiyue, just to name a few. BYD even expanded to include sub-brands Yang Wang and Fang Cheng Bao.
That aside, what do you think of Omoda & Jaecoo’s meteoric rise in markets globally so far? Can Jaecoo make as big of an impact as Chery did in Malaysia? Discuss below.
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