
How Chery is making its cars better suited to Australian roads
But not today. Our proving ground is surrounded by chicken shops rather than chicken wire fences. And we're in plain view of the general public on a test loop through the streets of Sydney. There is no hiding here.
Then again, there's not much to hide, and certainly no need for a disguise, as we're riding shotgun in a
Chery Tiggo 7
plug-in hybrid that looks remarkably like the standard petrol-powered version of the mid-size SUV – save for a few cosmetic details and badges on the outside, and a large red emergency shut-off button on the dashboard – that has been on sale locally since late last year.
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Ahead of the local release of the
Tiggo 7 PHEV
in the next couple of months, we joined
Chery
Australia CEO Lucas Harris during the final phase of validating the local calibration for its comprehensive suite of Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS), which includes automated emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assistance and other key safety functions.
Mr Harris is part of group of executives and expert technicians at Chery – both locally and internationally – that test and tune the automaker's vehicles to suit Australia's unique consumer demands and road conditions.
Chery isn't alone in doing this sort of local vehicle development work. In fact, almost every automotive brand in Australia has some form of checks and balances process prior to vehicles being delivered to showrooms to make sure they function properly on local roads.
For some, it's little more than a box-ticking exercise, extending to tweaking minor vehicle features like radio tuning, while others go to enormous lengths – and considerable capital investment – to tailor the driving character of their vehicles especially for Australia.
Mr Harris admits that Chery learned an early lesson that it needed to do more than just the basics, especially with the calibration of its active safety systems which were heavily criticised by pundits – including CarExpert – in models such as the Omoda 5 small SUV when it relaunched the brand here in 2023.
'We've copped a fair amount of, shall we say, constructive criticism about our systems, which I think has all been quite fair,' he says.
'Every now and then it's a bit exaggerated, but that's how the world goes around. I like the criticism though, because it makes it really easy for us to identify what we need to work on next and where we need to improve. So, most of our effort to date has been around how that ADAS system operates.'
ADAS systems are a complex array of unique functions that are intended to improve the safe operation of a vehicle. But some are more annoying in how they intervene, forcing drivers to switch off many of the functions, which is clearly counterproductive to their purpose.
They are all linked to an array of cameras and sensors positioned around the vehicle, providing it with a binary view of its surrounding environment. It's therefore all in the computer coding and algorithms of how that information is used – along with the physical inputs of the driver through the steering, throttle and brakes – as to how effective the functions are. And, importantly, how natural they feel to the driver.
Interestingly for us today, the Tiggo 7 PHEV features Chery's next-generation ADAS hardware and software suite, and will be the first model to make it available to Australian consumers.
Mr Harris says the reason Chery is investing in fine-tuning its ADAS calibration for Australia is, quite simply, the huge variation of road conditions we have in this country.
'On our drive loop today, which is only about one and a half hours long, just note how many different types of roads we are driving on, not just the surface and condition of the tarmac, but also the lane widths and markings,' he says as we trundle along the narrow three-lane Silverwater Road in heavy traffic.
'Some roads are beautiful, and others are simply dreadful. Some have hard kerbs on the edge, some have grass verges with lines, and some have no lane markings on the edge at all. That's just here in Sydney's suburbs, let alone the variation around the country.
'Compare that to the roads in China, which are very consistent, and that's why it is important for us to get our cars right for the market here.
'I don't think Australian consumer expectations are unreasonable; it is just that we have a much wider mix of scenarios in which they use the vehicle.'
Mr Harris says a typical tuning program like this takes around 12 months 'depending on how rough the starting position is' and begins with initial feedback from the validation group after driving an early pre-production vehicle.
From there, the team will debate the outcomes, which he said 'can get quite exciting sometimes', to form a collective opinion which is then relayed back to the engineering team in China to develop corrective measures.
Every new software change is scrutinised again over the exact same drive loop and any further refinements are fed back to the engineering team in China. The team will do this over and over until they are satisfied the system operates as expected.
'The benefits we're seeing from this are huge, because all the learnings accumulate,' said Mr Harris.
'We might spend 40 to 50,000 kilometres on this particular car, but that doesn't mean the hundreds of thousands of kilometres we've done before have gone to waste, because the data is relevant to improving the ADAS in all our models.
'Essentially, each time we do this, we're improving tenfold. And the Tiggo 7 PHEV is easily the best car we have launched yet – and not just because it has the latest hardware in it.'
It's impossible to judge from the passenger seat if Mr Harris is right and how effective the changes are. But even as he and I hold an uninterrupted hour-long conversation with many hand gestures and plenty of finger pointing from the driver's seat, there is a conspicuous absence of binging-and-bonging from the driver monitoring system. And no sudden sideways jerks from the lane keeping assistance system, other than when provoked it to demonstrate how smooth it is.
Mr Harris says the team has played particular attention to the latter system, and developed some unique solutions to help it intervene more naturally. He showcases this by moving into the inside lane on Lane Cove Road and driving closely, but parallel, to the roadside kerbing.
'Here, we've got three very narrow lanes and sometimes you'll be driving with very little distance between the left-hand wheels and the kerb. That's just the way it is,' he says.
'It's a 70km/h speed limit and it goes up and over crests and around corners. It's a difficult road for the system to determine. Before, it would have tried to steer away from the kerb just because of a pre-set distance, even if you were driving consistently. But now, we've re-set the parameters according to the width of the lane.
'On a narrow lane like this, the system will be supressed fractionally so it doesn't feel hyperactive, while it will act differently on a wider country road for example.
'I think we've found a sweet spot where you will not get unnecessary or unrequired activations.'
The proof will be in the pudding when we get behind the wheel of the Chery Tiggo 7 PHEV to assess the improvements for ourselves in the next month or so.
Until then, keep an eye on the traffic around you because the car in the next lane might just be doing something more important that getting point A to B.
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ABOVE: Audi A7 However, the A8 and S8 family entered production late in 2017, which means they're close to a decade old now, and yet no replacement has been announced, combustion-powered or otherwise. "The S8 is no longer available in showrooms at this stage," confirmed an Audi Australia spokesperson. "While the A8 range is currently unavailable, the Audi Australia team constantly evaluates all models available to us from the factory, ensuring that we have a broad range of models available here to meet customer's needs." The removal of the A7 and S8 from Australian order books comes after the 'regular' A8 was retired locally, and orders were closed for the high-riding A6 allroad wagon, the S6 sports sedan and the S7 Sportback after the 2024 model year. That leaves Audi's large passenger model range consisting of only the high-performance RS6 Avant and RS7 Sportback, plus the outgoing A6 sedan and the recently updated S and RS e-tron GT electric sedans. If you want a large, combustion-powered Audi without the RS treatment, you now have just one option: the A6 45 TFSI quattro S line, priced at $124,950 before on-roads. ABOVE: New-generation Audi A6 (left), outgoing model (right) A look at Audi's German website confirms the outgoing A6 and A7, including their sportier S and RS variants, are no longer available to order. Audi is replacing the outgoing A6 with a new-generation sedan and Avant wagon based on the company's Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), which will be complemented by the electric A6 e-tron and A6 Avant e-tron based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). Both of these model lines are already on sale in Europe but Audi has yet to officially lock them in for Australian release. Instead, it says these vehicles are "currently under evaluation for the Australian market". "Our product team are constantly evaluating each model line and the specific models within the range to determine the mix, pricing, and specification for everything we offer here in Australia," said the spokesperson. Should Audi not bring the new-generation A6 to Australia, including its inevitable hotted-up RS flagship, the recently launched A5/S5 would become the brand's largest combustion-powered passenger car available in Australia. ABOVE: Audi S8 The discontinuation of the S8 locally now leaves Audi without a model in the so-called 'Upper Large' passenger car segment, which also contains vehicles like the rival BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, after 30 years. Audi delivered just three S8s in the first half of this year, but even looking at full-year sales of the A8/S8 in 2024 – when the flagship was still available to order – it notched up only 10 deliveries, down 47.4 per cent on the previous year and behind the LS (11), S-Class (43) and 7 Series (49). It isn't just the Upper Large segment from which Audi is withdrawing. The four-ringed brand no longer offers any coupe or convertible models, neither here nor abroad, following the axing of the R8 supercar and TT sports car, and the introduction of the new-generation of A5 without any two-door variants. MORE: Everything Audi A6 • S6 • RS6 • A7 • S7 • RS7 • A8 • S8 Content originally sourced from: The Audi A7 Sportback and S8 limousine are the latest passenger models from the German luxury brand to become unavailable to order in Australia. Audi Australia has updated its website to confirm orders for the large five-door liftback and even larger four-door sedan are now closed. While the A7 is at the end of its lifecycle – it's understood the latest A6 replaces both the outgoing A6 and A7 – the S8 hasn't been discontinued globally. The S8 also continues to be offered in the UK, another major right-hand drive market, as well as in its home market of Germany. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. ABOVE: Audi A7 However, the A8 and S8 family entered production late in 2017, which means they're close to a decade old now, and yet no replacement has been announced, combustion-powered or otherwise. "The S8 is no longer available in showrooms at this stage," confirmed an Audi Australia spokesperson. "While the A8 range is currently unavailable, the Audi Australia team constantly evaluates all models available to us from the factory, ensuring that we have a broad range of models available here to meet customer's needs." The removal of the A7 and S8 from Australian order books comes after the 'regular' A8 was retired locally, and orders were closed for the high-riding A6 allroad wagon, the S6 sports sedan and the S7 Sportback after the 2024 model year. That leaves Audi's large passenger model range consisting of only the high-performance RS6 Avant and RS7 Sportback, plus the outgoing A6 sedan and the recently updated S and RS e-tron GT electric sedans. If you want a large, combustion-powered Audi without the RS treatment, you now have just one option: the A6 45 TFSI quattro S line, priced at $124,950 before on-roads. ABOVE: New-generation Audi A6 (left), outgoing model (right) A look at Audi's German website confirms the outgoing A6 and A7, including their sportier S and RS variants, are no longer available to order. Audi is replacing the outgoing A6 with a new-generation sedan and Avant wagon based on the company's Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), which will be complemented by the electric A6 e-tron and A6 Avant e-tron based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). Both of these model lines are already on sale in Europe but Audi has yet to officially lock them in for Australian release. Instead, it says these vehicles are "currently under evaluation for the Australian market". "Our product team are constantly evaluating each model line and the specific models within the range to determine the mix, pricing, and specification for everything we offer here in Australia," said the spokesperson. Should Audi not bring the new-generation A6 to Australia, including its inevitable hotted-up RS flagship, the recently launched A5/S5 would become the brand's largest combustion-powered passenger car available in Australia. ABOVE: Audi S8 The discontinuation of the S8 locally now leaves Audi without a model in the so-called 'Upper Large' passenger car segment, which also contains vehicles like the rival BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, after 30 years. Audi delivered just three S8s in the first half of this year, but even looking at full-year sales of the A8/S8 in 2024 – when the flagship was still available to order – it notched up only 10 deliveries, down 47.4 per cent on the previous year and behind the LS (11), S-Class (43) and 7 Series (49). It isn't just the Upper Large segment from which Audi is withdrawing. The four-ringed brand no longer offers any coupe or convertible models, neither here nor abroad, following the axing of the R8 supercar and TT sports car, and the introduction of the new-generation of A5 without any two-door variants. MORE: Everything Audi A6 • S6 • RS6 • A7 • S7 • RS7 • A8 • S8 Content originally sourced from: The Audi A7 Sportback and S8 limousine are the latest passenger models from the German luxury brand to become unavailable to order in Australia. Audi Australia has updated its website to confirm orders for the large five-door liftback and even larger four-door sedan are now closed. While the A7 is at the end of its lifecycle – it's understood the latest A6 replaces both the outgoing A6 and A7 – the S8 hasn't been discontinued globally. The S8 also continues to be offered in the UK, another major right-hand drive market, as well as in its home market of Germany. CarExpert can save you thousands on a new car. Click here to get a great deal. ABOVE: Audi A7 However, the A8 and S8 family entered production late in 2017, which means they're close to a decade old now, and yet no replacement has been announced, combustion-powered or otherwise. "The S8 is no longer available in showrooms at this stage," confirmed an Audi Australia spokesperson. "While the A8 range is currently unavailable, the Audi Australia team constantly evaluates all models available to us from the factory, ensuring that we have a broad range of models available here to meet customer's needs." 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Audi is replacing the outgoing A6 with a new-generation sedan and Avant wagon based on the company's Premium Platform Combustion (PPC), which will be complemented by the electric A6 e-tron and A6 Avant e-tron based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE). Both of these model lines are already on sale in Europe but Audi has yet to officially lock them in for Australian release. Instead, it says these vehicles are "currently under evaluation for the Australian market". "Our product team are constantly evaluating each model line and the specific models within the range to determine the mix, pricing, and specification for everything we offer here in Australia," said the spokesperson. Should Audi not bring the new-generation A6 to Australia, including its inevitable hotted-up RS flagship, the recently launched A5/S5 would become the brand's largest combustion-powered passenger car available in Australia. ABOVE: Audi S8 The discontinuation of the S8 locally now leaves Audi without a model in the so-called 'Upper Large' passenger car segment, which also contains vehicles like the rival BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS and Mercedes-Benz S-Class, after 30 years. Audi delivered just three S8s in the first half of this year, but even looking at full-year sales of the A8/S8 in 2024 – when the flagship was still available to order – it notched up only 10 deliveries, down 47.4 per cent on the previous year and behind the LS (11), S-Class (43) and 7 Series (49). It isn't just the Upper Large segment from which Audi is withdrawing. The four-ringed brand no longer offers any coupe or convertible models, neither here nor abroad, following the axing of the R8 supercar and TT sports car, and the introduction of the new-generation of A5 without any two-door variants. MORE: Everything Audi A6 • S6 • RS6 • A7 • S7 • RS7 • A8 • S8 Content originally sourced from: