Omoda is the name of a new Chinese brand, part of the Chinese car manufacturer Chery Automobile. The brand will first be introduced in Belgium and Luxembourg at the beginning of 2024. The first car introduced is the Omoda 5, a fully electric SUV that will be sold at just under €40 000 for the base model and thus eligible for the Flemish government’s recently decided €5 000 sales premium.

Omoda will also start offices in Brussels and Amsterdam, with teams of about 20 people responsible for the brand, dealer network development, product strategy, and after-sales service. The fact that there will be an office in Amsterdam indicates that the brand will also be introduced soon in the Netherlands.

Omoda is a new brand name, the O symbolizing ‘oxygen’ and ‘moda’ being a contraction of modern. The new brand aims to attract customers who are concerned about sustainability.

Two versions

The Omoda 5 SUV will be available in two variants, one with a ‘normal range’ of 300 km and the other with an ‘extended range’ of 450 km. Of course, the difference lies in the battery size: 40 kWh for the first and 60 kWh for the latter.

Both models have a 110 kW electromotor providing 340 Nm of torque. The cars have standard equipment, including 18-inch wheels, LED lighting, seats in eco-leather, and two 12,25-inch high-resolution dashboard screens. There’s a price indication that the BEV Omoda 5 will start at just under €40 000 for the basic version and up to €46 000 for the ‘long range’ top version.

Local presence

Omda wants to build a local presence in the Belux as quickly as possible. Currently, it is talking to six potential dealers, and the plan is to start in 2024 with at least ten of them, increasing to 30 by the end of the year and doubling by the end of 2025.

“We aim to open some 30 one-stop-shops with aftersales possibilities in Belgium,” says Zijan Xie, Country Manager for Belgium. In Luxembourg, we are talking to different distributors to open five shops as a starting point.”

Chery mainly aims at dealers getting in trouble with the saving operations of established brands like Opel, Fiat, Citroën, etc. The Stellantis Group is trying to restructure its dealer network into an agency model, making many smaller dealers very vulnerable and anxious.

The future

There is also a version with an ICE engine of the Omoda 5, already available in Spain and Italy, but the Belux will be the first in Europe to get the fully electric version. The importer is also considering selling the ICE version in the Belux, with a price tag of around €32 000.

Zijan Xie again: “We are also talking to the dealers about selling ICE models. In Luxembourg, we got the message that ICE models are still popular, so we will introduce the ICE version of Omoda 5 immediately in Q1 of 2024. In Belgium, we will focus first on BEV models, although ICE versions are possible starting in Q4 next year.”

If everything goes according to plan, Omoda will offer four to six different versions with different energy and power combinations, from pure ICE over PHEV to BEV. There’s a possibility that the cars destined for Europe will arrive via Zeebrugge or Antwerp.

Chery is one of the biggest private car manufacturers in China and says it is the most important exporter of cars, shipping 451 000 cars abroad last year. The production target for this year is 1,4 million.

Besides the Omoda brand, Chery will also import its other brands, Jaecoo and Exlantix, into Europe.