The Chinese automotive sector is currently wrestling with severe overcapacity, meaning all that excess metal has to go somewhere. Chery isn’t hanging about on this front. The automotive behemoth has officially rubber-stamped plans to set up a dedicated German subsidiary, targeting an operational launch in Europe’s biggest car market by the first half of 2027.
When you look at the sheer scale of the operation, it’s a move that feels somewhat inevitable. Founded back in 1997, the Chery Group has been China’s top passenger car exporter for over two decades. In 2025 alone, they shifted a staggering 2.8 million vehicles globally—a nearly eight per cent bump from the previous year. Over 1.3 million of those motors were boxed up for export, cementing a massive footprint across 120 countries. They even handed the keys to their five-millionth export vehicle to a buyer in Poland recently, proving they already have a solid foothold on the continent.
To tackle the specific, famously demanding tastes of the German and wider European markets, Chery—which fancies itself a maker of ‘happy cars’—is leaning entirely on its Tiggo SUV sub-brand. The strategy is to roll out a heavily electrified lineup promising functional design, solid safety kit, and serious value for money.
The vanguard consists of smaller, self-charging hybrid (HEV) models designed for urban commuters: the 4.35-metre Tiggo 4 HEV and the Golf-sized Tiggo 7 HEV, both of which rely on a compact battery and motor setup to harvest energy on the move. Step up the ladder, and you get into proper plug-in hybrid (PHEV) territory with the Tiggo 7 PHEV and the larger, 4.7-metre Tiggo 8 PHEV, which offers genuine electric-only commuting range alongside a combustion engine for longer weekend hauls.
But the undisputed daddy of the lineup is the Chery Tiggo 9.
Clocking in at over 4.8 metres long and 1.74 metres tall, this sprawling seven-seat family SUV sits squarely in the crosshairs of the Hyundai Santa Fe and Skoda Kodiaq. It aims to make those established names look distinctly overpriced, though official European pricing remains tightly under wraps for now.
Visually, it carries the undeniable heft of a flagship, though it perhaps lacks genuine presence. The exterior design is neat and tidy but deeply derivative; it’s a bit bland to behold, frankly. You wouldn’t catch yourself pointing it out in a car park wondering who the lucky soul inside might be.
Underneath the skin, however, the Tiggo 9 stops pulling punches. Riding on a stretched, significantly widened iteration of the T1X platform shared with Chery’s Omoda and Jaecoo spinoffs, it packs a frankly mad tri-motor, four-wheel-drive powertrain. You get a 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol lump mated to a 121bhp starter-generator. So far, so standard. But then Chery throws a 101bhp electric motor on the front axle and a beefy 235bhp unit at the rear into the mix. Funnelled through a clever three-speed hybrid transmission, total system output hits a faintly ridiculous 423bhp and 428lb ft of torque. Despite weighing the wrong side of 2.2 tonnes, this massive family bus will crack 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds. That is Honda Civic Type R territory.
Feeding those motors is a colossal 34.4kWh nickel-manganese-cobalt battery slung beneath the cabin floor. To put that in perspective, the battery in a Honda CR-V PHEV is literally half the size. Weighing a hefty 200kg and measuring over a metre square, this battery pack gives the Tiggo 9 the longest electric-only range of any PHEV currently on sale. Crucially, it also supports DC rapid charging, a vital bit of kit that plenty of rival plug-ins bizarrely still omit.
Inside, the cabin is a bit of a mixed bag. You get genuinely plush massaging front seats, cavernous room across the first two rows, and a third row that’s actually usable for kids or smaller adults. Better yet, the massive 819-litre boot is entirely unintruded by the hybrid gubbins.
The compromises become glaringly obvious when you look a bit closer at the fit and finish. Vast expanses of shiny plastic and flimsy fittings mean the perceived quality simply isn’t on par with European rivals. You’re also left entirely at the mercy of a distracting, unintuitive touchscreen that assumes control of far too many vital functions, flanked by digital dials that feel oddly calibrated.
These usability quirks definitely erode the day-to-day driving experience. Out on the road, it rides and handles respectably enough, but don’t expect it to be an absolute riot through the corners. It’s a big, heavy SUV, and it feels like one. Yet, if you can look past the interior cost-cutting and the derivative styling, the sheer amount of space, pace, and electric range on offer makes the Tiggo 9 an incredibly pragmatic proposition. Big families looking for a cost-effective route into a massively capable plug-in hybrid would be foolish to dismiss it.
