View all Omoda 5 Reviews
► Omoda is the latest brand to enter the UK
► Kicks off with two new models, the 5 and E5
► 60 dealerships nationwide
Omoda has officially launched in the UK. The Chinese brand marked the occasion with an event in London last night and revealed details about the cars it’ll be selling first: the ICE-powered Omoda 5 and electric Omoda E5. As you’d expect, both are mid-sized SUV, crossover-shaped things. Omoda is already in more than 40 markets globally but is aiming for that number to rise to over 60 in the next three years.
‘This is a landmark week for Omoda, as it marks the official start of our journey in a key market for the brand. Omoda is at the forefront of a new era of intelligent and new energy technology products and is already making an impact across Europe, even outselling established brands in some markets, said Chen Chun Qing, executive vice president of Omoda’s parent company Chery International.
‘We are building a futuristic brand for customers, with highly specified, premium models available at a competitive price.’
Omoda’s suits also outlined how it’ll sell those cars and support the customers that buy them. Keep reading to find out more.
What are they selling?
Take a look at the cars in the pictures, and futuristic isn’t the first word that comes to mind – but Chery’s executive vice president has a point on price: The Omoda range currently kicks off at just £25,235 for the most basic Omoda 5, though that increases to £33,055 for the electric model. In PCP terms, you can get into an Omoda now with a £6400 deposit and repayments of £300 a month.
That means Omoda isn’t just targeting the prospective Kia Sportage or Nissan Qashqai owners – it’s also targeting those usually hunting in the second-hand market.
‘We’re at a price point where actually we’re not that far off some used car purchases, but you get a brand new car, you’ve got that confidence of the warranty, you’ve got that confidence of the breakdown cover for it,’ said Omoda’s UK product manager Oliver Lowe. ‘It’s something new and fresh, it’s yours for the first time.’
Lowe also believes that the brand will attract customers who are unable to stick to their usual brands after the Covid price hike: ‘They might be really loyal on one particular brand but can’t afford the car they wanted, and we’re offering them a car that’s priced at the segment beneath,’ he explains.
‘People that may have bought a Qashqai or another SUV and can’t afford the replacement and maybe need to downsize – they’ve got that opportunity to stay in the same size of car with a fantastic specification and great power.’
How are they selling them?
The first shipment of Omoda cars rolled into the Southampton docks, but Omoda already has a 60-strong UK dealership network in place.
‘We’ve got some excellent dealer partners,’ Lowe tells us.‘We talk to them about the previous customers from different brands that they’ve dealt with. I’m really interested in their mix of experience and how we can leverage their experience to talk to people’
‘It gives us great coverage. A lot of new entrants don’t do that when they join. There’s still huge proportion of customers that are looking for that dealer experience.’
The dealerships are supported by a seven year warranty, and parts network fulfilled by DHL. ‘We’ve got a DHL hub in the middle of the country,’ Lowe adds. ‘We’ve got good parts stock in there, so we’ll be able to react like people are used to from their traditional experience.’
What do they expect to sell?
Omoda is expecting the ICE car to sell more due to the low price-point, but it’ll need to do work to ensure it hits the ZEV mandate: ‘I would propose that we will sell 22% EVs because, that’s the mandate target,’ Lowe says – but he added that there are already ideas and measures in place to hit it.
‘We are coming up with new plans, new ideas, ways to meet that we’re still working on,’ he said. One of those will be investing in fleet – but he admitted that it’s still going to be difficult. ‘If you’ve been in the UK a while and you’ve already got some hybrids, you know, you can do some work to balance things. If you’re a new brand, it’s a tricky job.’
One thing’s for sure, Omoda won’t be throttling supply to meet the mandate: ‘We’re trying to grow,’ Lowe clarified. ‘To start limiting supply of certain drivetrains, I think it’s really would be a really negative message, not only for our dealers, but for customers as well.’
What’s next?
Omoda will release at least two models next year. First there’ll be the larger, Range Rover Sport or Porsche Cayenne-sized Omoda 9, and then the 3 – a small crossover that’ll rival the Ford Puma and Vauxhall Mokka. Beyond that there’ll the 7 which was previously described as ‘Tucson or Sportage-size’ by UK director, Victor Zhang.
‘We will probably do two to three launches next year,’ confirmed Lowe.
