CHERY is expected to have a broad dealer footprint in Australia for its second attempt in this market – this time as a wholly-owned subsidiary of its parent company.

GoAutoNews Premium has learned that the brand is courting at least 50, and possibly more than 60, different dealers across Australia as it looks to launch in February.

Chery Australia marketing director James Curtis wouldn’t name names, or speak about the target number of dealers for the brand, but he did give an indication that the company is aiming for a large presence across the eastern seaboard, and possibly beyond.

“We’ll launch more information publicly on our dealer network in due course, in February,” said Mr Curtis.

“You can be confident we’ll have a very comprehensive network from launch in our major markets across the country,” he said.

GoAutoNews Premium understands that Chery will be present in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane at a minimum when those dealers are appointed. The company has confirmed it will be docking ships with stock of the Omoda 5 small SUV in those cities in the coming weeks.

Chery Australia managing director Andy Zhang told GoAutoNews Premium that the brand is expecting “hundreds” of Omoda 5 models to arrive at the docks in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in the coming weeks.

Further, Mr Curtis said the brand has prioritised its parts availability for the new model, with the first shipment of parts due into Melbourne at the end of this month, with stock to be held in a warehouse facility in Victoria’s capital city.

“We’ve got over 580 part lines on order, meaning we can effectively service a car parc of about two to three months from launch, with more parts on the way,” he said.

“Where other manufacturers may have parts shortage issues, I don’t expect that to be the case for us. We’re planning to make sure it’s not the case for us.”

A footprint of 50-60 dealerships across the country would instantly put Chery on similar footing to fellow Chinese brand MG, which has a network of around 65 dealerships Australia-wide.

It also puts it ahead of brands such as Korean maker SsangYong, which has a network of about 43 dealers.

Chery was previously imported and distributed by Ateco Automotive, between 2011 and 2015.

At that time, the brand positioned itself as a budget offering in the market, with the entry-level model, the J1 city car, costing less than $10,000.

By matt Campbell