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Thursday / 6 February 2025
HomeFeaturesMore affordable Chery SUV canned for South Africa – But something else is on the way

More affordable Chery SUV canned for South Africa – But something else is on the way

The Chery Tiggo 2 Pro is no longer in the pipeline for South Africa, the Chinese automaker’s local division confirmed to TopAuto.

Back in November 2023, Chery revealed that it was considering launching the crossover in the domestic market in 2025 as a more affordable entry point into the brand.

However, it warned that the success of the already attainable Tiggo 4 Pro would have complicated the market positioning of the Tiggo 2 Pro.

“With the success of Tiggo 4 Pro, we are exploring options to expand the range, and this may cause an overlap with Tiggo 2 Pro in certain aspects,” said the manufacturer at the time.

It thus said that plans for the smaller model may end up being put on ice.

Now in 2025, TopAuto got in touch with Chery to inquire whether it has made any firm decision on the Tiggo 2 Pro, and it confirmed that it has no intention to launch the car in the country at the moment.

The primary reason for this is that the Tiggo 2 Pro is “not available in right-hand-drive configuration on the current platform,” said a Chery spokesperson.

A new Chery for South Africa

While the Tiggo 2 Pro may no longer be coming to our shores, Chery did reveal that it is actively looking at another option for South Africa.

In response to our queries, the spokesperson noted that Chery is “currently studying another platform for product feasibility in terms of the South African market.”

It gave no further details on what the new platform could be, leaving this up to our imagination.

During a media briefing last year on the new Tiggo Cross, Chery presented a graphic of the Tiggo family which included two models that are not sold in the country at the moment.

One of these was the Tiggo 2 Pro, which we now know isn’t on the cards anymore, and the other was the Tiggo 6, hinting that this might be the new platform being studied for the local market.

Judging from the infographic, the Tiggo 6 seems to fill the big gap between the Tiggo 4 Pro and Tiggo 7 Pro, the former of which retails from R269,900 and the latter from R399,900.

The Tiggo Cross – itself a facelifted variant of the Tiggo 4 Pro – was expected to play this part, but it, too, sells for a minimum of R399,900.

However, with the Tiggo 6 being electric, it may only sit between the 4 and 7 in terms of nomenclature and nothing else.

Known as the eQ7 in its home market of China, the Tiggo 6 was revealed in mid-2023 and is exclusively available with a battery-powered drivetrain.

The electric vehicle (EV) measures 4,675mm long, 1,910mm wide, and 1,660mm tall, meaning it is both longer and wider than the Tiggo 7 Pro, and only 45mm lower.

It’s shipped with a single electric motor twisting the rear wheels with a respectable output of 155kW and 285Nm, ensuring a 0-100km/h sprint time of eight seconds flat while top speed is listed at 180km/h.

Chery claims the 67.1kWh battery is good for 512km of travel, measured on the usually very optimistic China Light-Duty Vehicle Test Cycle, while rapid-charging support sees the cell recharge from 30-80% in as little as 30 minutes on the correct DC plug.

Supporting the case of a potential local rollout of the Tiggo 6/eQ7, South African publication The Box Cutter reported in January 2024, without citing a source, that the EV would be coming to our roads before the end of the year.

It’s not unheard of for launches of new vehicles, especially those with electric underbellies, to be delayed, so 2025 may very well be the year that the new SUV arrives in the country.

We also know that the Tiggo 9 is on its way this year, which will head up Chery’s South African portfolio once it arrives.

It will be the biggest and most luxurious product sold by the Chinese automaker in the country and will be available in both petrol and, in time, plug-in hybrid guise.

That said, the Tiggo 9 has been confirmed for South Africa for quite some time, and it sits on the same platform as the current Chery flagship, the Tiggo 8 Pro.

As such, it’s unlikely that this is the model the company spokesperson referred to when they said Chery is “currently studying another platform” for the country.

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