Chery, one of the newest car brands in Australia, announced earlier this year that it would be bringing an electric SUV, known as the Omoda E5, to the market by mid-2024. Now we have some guid as to the pricing.
Overnight, the pricing of the upcoming model for the New Zealand market has been unveiled with the base variant coming in at $NZ47,990, which is equivalent to $A44,000.
That will add to the small but growing list of sub-$50,000 EVs available in Australia, and it will be interesting to see if Chery matches some of the discounts of its rival Chinese EV makers such as BYD, MG and GWM.
The news about the New Zealand pricing for Chery was reported on Facebook on the KiwiEVadventures page.
“Big news: I’m at the launch of the all electric Omoda E5 in New Zealand and pricing has just been revealed this moment,” the author wrote. “It starts at $47,990 NZD with a range of 430km per charge.”
For comparison, in the New Zealand market, the MG ZS EV starts at $NZ50,990, while the BYD Atto 3 starts at $59,990 and is only available with the bigger 60 kWh extended range battery.
That’s equivalent to $A44,040, which is a fairly good price for a new electric SUV.
The Omoda E5’s 430 km of range is delivered by a 61 kWh battery pack. It has a DC fast-charge rate of 80 kW which is quite similar to one of the best-selling electric SUVs, the Atto 3, which is also rated at 80 kW although many owners have reported getting closer to 88 kW at the right charger.
The official consumption spec shared in February was 15.5 kWh/100km which is comparable to various other electric SUVs but is expected to be tested once the model arrives in the local market.
With this large battery pack, the Omoda aims to provide more km on a single charge than any other SUV under $A45,000.
The cars in both markets are expected to be similar when it comes to specs and in February, the Australian arm of Chery revealed that it will be offered in a single-motor drivetrain.
This motor produces 150 kW of power and up to 340 Nm of torque. This helps it sprint from 0-100 km/h in a respectable time of 7.6 seconds.
Chery is looking at expanding into multiple markets with its Omoda E5 electric SUV. Recently it announced that it will also be taking the car to Europe, after announcing its entry into the highly competitive German market.
With the pricing and specifications of the new model unveiled in New Zealand, it’s only a matter of time before local announcements are also made. If priced similarly to New Zealand, it’s likely to capture quite a few buyers looking to buy a new electric SUV in 2024 and beyond.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.