Establishing a new brand and then convincing brand loyal buyers of other marques to change in a market as tough as South Africa has been a challenge Chinese brand Omoda isn’t scared of admitting to. Making the climb The first sub-brand of resurgent parent company Chery to have entered the local market, Omoda has also been waging a different path as a means of not being compared to its parent. ALSO READ: WATCH: Omoda C9 poised to take luxury and tech to a new level Along with fellow affiliate Jaecoo as part of the O&J division, Omoda, while leveraging off of Chery on the platform and powertrain fronts, operates separately from different dealers, with a different marketing team and market approach.
Despite this, the challenges of setting-up shop from scratch remains, though since it’s arrival last year, it’s first model, the C5, has been winning gradual favour in spite of a few niggles relating to drive ability and overzealous safety systems. Watch the C9 walkaround video below C9: What is it? One of Chery’s upscale sub-brands as the flagship Exeed division will never be marketed locally due to production being left-hand-drive only, the second step for Omoda involves, ironically, an Exeed model in the shape of the Yaoguang soon to launch as the Omoda C9. A surprise showing at the Kyalami Festival of Speed last year, the chance to experience the Yaoguang, known outside China as the Exeed RX, arrived in January in the form of a left-hand-drive prototype modelled on a Russ.
