Chery details new hybrid platform set to underpin future vehicles

Chinese car brand Chery has unveiled a new hybrid-only vehicle platform.

The architecture, marketed as the "super hybrid power platform", is explicitly developed for electrified internal-combustion vehicles.

While the brand has yet to detail which vehicles will be underpinned by the new platform, it is expected to feature underneath several new-generation cars due by 2025.

The recently-launched Chery Omoda 5 small SUV – the brand's first new vehicle in Australia in eight years, following a tumultuous initial entrance to the market in 2011 – was launched globally in 2021.

It is underpinned by Chery's existing monocoque T1X platform, with support for electrification – including an all-electric version due in 2024.

Chery claims the upcoming platform detailed this week will focus on "future intelligence, comprehensive comfort, efficient power and superior safety" with support for a 2.0-litre turbo petrol-hybrid powertrain up to 165kW and 400Nm.

Under the skin, each vehicle will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon car-grade system on chip (SoC) and an electrical architecture with 5G and gigabit ethernet support.

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An updated suspension system – dubbed "magnetic levitation" – is also said to be in development to improve comfort levels "by 30 per cent", and all-wheel-drive vehicles will feature a "sense of flying-like maneuverability."

We're not entirely sure what that means, but perhaps Chery is referring to improving the turning circle of its four-wheel-drive vehicles.

For its next-generation vehicles, it plans to boost "comfort in the aspects of auditory (sound), olfactory (smell), tactile and visual sense through… co-development with world-top suppliers."

Chery said it aims for a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating for its future vehicles on the platform, with the addition of a passive occupant protection system and up to 10 airbags.

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While the Omoda 5 received a five-star Euro NCAP rating in 2022, this rating has yet to be applied by ANCAP; however, there's no difference in active safety equipment between European and Australian examples.

Following the release of the Omoda 5 small SUV this month, Chery Australia claims the older, petrol-only Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 Pro will arrive locally in the third quarter of 2023.

These vehicles are based on the same T1X platform as the Omoda 5, not the "super hybrid power platform" detailed above.

It has promised a battery-electric version of the Omoda 5 will debut in early 2024 to rival the MG ZS EV, BYD Atto 3 and GWM Ora.