Chery and BYD are moving at record-breaking speed—slashing development times, embracing bold risk, and outpacing the world’s biggest car brands. Here’s how they left legacy automakers scrambling to keep up.
In October 2023, Chinese automaker Chery issued an urgent call: engineers and suppliers had to report immediately to testing grounds in Zhaoyuan, Shandong Province. The mission? Overhaul the suspension and steering of the Omoda 5 SUV—on short notice and for a critical market.
Designed for China’s smooth streets and slower speeds, the Omoda 5 now had to perform on Europe’s winding, uneven roads.
In just six weeks, Chery turned around a completely upgraded version, shipping it to European dealers with new steering, brakes, traction control, tires, and vibration dampers.
“You can forget doing something that fast with a European automaker,” said Riccardo Tonelli, Chery’s senior vehicle-dynamics expert. “It’s impossible.”
Tonelli, who previously worked at an Italian carmaker and a Korean tire firm, estimated it would take Western carmakers more than a year to implement similar improvements. Chery’s turnaround, he said, was simply out of reach for their more bureaucratic structures.
That speed—almost unthinkable in Detroit, Wolfsburg, or Tokyo—has become China’s secret weapon.
While Western automakers struggle to evolve, China’s car companies, led by Chery and EV giant BYD, are rewriting the rules of global auto manufacturing.
(Reuters)
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