Chery hits three years in Malaysia: 60 dealers, 10 models and a RM2.2 billion plant

KUALA LUMPUR: Chery has been back in Malaysia for three years, and the numbers give a fair read on where the brand sits.

It runs 60 dealerships nationwide, sells 10 models locally, and keeps investing money into the market, which points to a carmaker that plans to stick around rather than test the water and leave.

Chery returned to Malaysia in 2023 and has grown steadily since, adding showrooms, widening its range and rolling out the usual owner-focused programmes.

Also Read: Chery Tiggo 9 launched in Malaysia, here’s all you need to know

The newest car in the lineup, the Tiggo 9, is the tenth model the brand has launched here. It's a large SUV that puts Chery up against the Proton X90 and the growing stack of Chinese SUVs now fighting for Malaysian buyers, and it rounds out a portfolio that leans heavily on the SUV segment, with the usual pitch around tech, safety and value.

The bigger story sits in Lembah Beringin, Selangor, where Chery is building the Chery Smart Auto Industrial Park. The first phase has topped out, and the RM2.2 billion, 200-acre site is set to become Chery's largest assembly plant in Malaysia. Beyond local production, the plant is meant to supply export markets in the region, which slots Malaysia into Chery's wider ASEAN plans rather than treating it as just another place to sell cars.

That local push tracks with how the brand is doing globally. Chery sells to customers in more than 120 countries and counts itself among the faster-growing carmakers in the world, helped along by spending on R&D, technology and factory capacity.

On competition, Chery's line is straightforward. It reckons the industry is better off when rivals push each other, and says it welcomes a fair fight. The brand points to customer trust as the thing that actually keeps it growing in Malaysia, which is a standard message but a sensible one.

There's a community side too, run through the With Chery With Love (WCWL) programme that exists both globally and locally. It's the lifestyle-and-family-events arm of the brand, the kind of owner club most carmakers now run to keep buyers engaged after the sale.

On the ESG front, Chery teamed up with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) earlier this year on Cherish the Nature, an 18-month mangrove restoration project along the North-Central Selangor coast.

The work brings in conservation specialists and local communities to replant and protect mangroves in one of the state's more ecologically important coastal stretches.

The brand has done the community-support thing closer to home as well. After the 2025 fire in Putra Heights, Selangor, Chery handed 50 of its cars to affected residents for a month to help them get around while they sorted things out. It's a goodwill move, and Chery uses it to make the point that a brand is built on more than just product.

Looking ahead, Chery says the plan for Malaysia is more of the same: more models, more local assembly, a better ownership experience and continued spending on sustainability.

Three years in, the brand has built a real base here, and the next stretch will show whether the momentum holds as the Chinese-brand field in Malaysia gets more crowded.

Also Read: Chery opens a new 3S outlet in Johor