Alwyn Viljoen
LAST year, Brett Soso, MD of Chery South Africa, had hoped sales
would grow in 2013 by between 10% and 15% on 2012 numbers.
Instead, sales have dropped eight percent in a growing market, and
the reason for this, Soso told the shareholders Bidvest and Imperial, is because
Chery has not been introducing new models often enough.
“Our challenge was to refresh our models,” he said.
Soso met this challenge with the launch last week of the J2
hatchback, and with a face-lift for the Chery QQ early next year.
He explained that Chery has been the victim of its own growth, as
the launch of the J2 was delayed last year, with Soso chomping at the bit while
Chery completed yet another new factory, this one in Chennai, where the new J2,
as well as Land Rover and Jaguar parts for China, are assembled.
Along the route, the designers incorporated feedback from the
market, such as changing the two small side hooter buttons to be part of the
steering wheel central cover.
With the launch of the new Chery J2 hatchback, he hopes to give the
Chinese brand the top-of-mind awareness it enjoyed after it launched in South
Africa in 2008.
The new J2 hatchback costs just under R130 000 and comes with the
longest warrantee of any Chinese brand. It is now on view at Chery’s
multifranchise dealerships.
Soso said he is proud of how Chery has weathered the recession
since 2008, saying 30-odd Chinese brands were heading to South Africa then, but
only a handful now remain in South Africa.
Asked why Chery prefers to sell through its network of
multifranchise dealers, he said it is more cost-effective.
Soso said GWM is currently the only Chinese brand that sells more
than 500 units a month, and he held out no hope for Geely.
“I do not believe that Geely’s strategy is sustainable. We will
continue with our multifranchise dealers instead.”
He said South Africa is the leading right-hand drive market for
Chery, outselling even Australia, and it is the first country outside of China
to get the right-hand drive Chery.
Chery claims to be China’s largest exporter of passenger vehicles,
sending its passenger cars and light commercial vehicles to 70 countries, with
13 factories outside China.
In South Africa, Chery sells its cars through 36 dealers, five of
which are in KZN, in the McCarthy and Imperial stables. Soso hopes to expand
this number to 40.
(Information gathered at a launch sponsored by the
manufacturer.)
