Chery to revive Rely brand as ute contender

CHINESE manufacturer Chery is set to add another brand to its burgeoning portfolio, reviving its Rely light commercial nameplate alongside Exeed, Jaecoo, Jetour, Karry, and Omoda titles already on its books.

According to a report published by Car News China this week, Rely will become Chery’s “global intelligent pick-up ecosystem brand” and will offer a range of powertrain options including internal combustion, battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and range-extender types.

The publication said Chery will offer four major product lines within the Rely marque with as many as 16 grades or variants.

It is understood one of these will be a production version of the KP11 prototype (pictured) shown in October last year.

Based upon the LDV T60, the Rely version will offer a choice of 2.4-litre turbocharged petrol or PHEV powertrains, pitting it directly against Chinese entrants from BYD (Shark 6), GWM (Cannon), LDV (T60), JAC (T9 and Terron 9) and MG Motor (U9).

GoAuto understands the first Rely model will measure approximately 5400mm in length with a wheelbase of 3300mm, close to those of the LDV T9 (at 5365mm and 3155mm respectively).

Chery says Rely is an abbreviation for rebuild, explore, link, and yield, and that its dual-cab ute will be built upon its Mars architecture to allow not only multiple powertrain alternatives, but also semi-autonomous driving, and advanced cockpit technology with “AI-embedded electrical architecture”.

Given Chery has previously expressed its desire to import a dual-cab ute into the Australian market, it is likely the Rely will join the local arm’s portfolio at a later date. However, it is too early to say if or when the Rely range will be confirmed for local arrival.

“We’re always interested in reviewing the exciting product from our head office. However, currently there are no plans for this product in Australia,” Chery Australia head of public relations Tim Krieger told GoAuto.

The Chinese ute market is entering a phase of renewal as restrictions on where utility models may be driven is eased.

According to Car News China, some 58,000 light commercial utes were sold in China in March 2025, a year-on-year increase of 13.1 per cent, and bringing Q1 sales to a total of 137,000 units (itself a YOY increase of 6.8 per cent).

Of that volume, some 6200 examples were powered by new energy means (BEV, PHEV, REV, HEV, etc.), an increase of 187 per cent on the same time last year.

China’s growing fondness for light commercial utility vehicles appears in step with Australia’s.

Year-to-date figures supplied by the FCAI show the popularity of Chinese-made utes is increasing against that of stalwart marques.

BYD has sold 4836 examples of its Shark 6 PHEV to the end of March 2025, while GWM has sold 2630 units across its various lines. JAC has moved 525 examples of its newly introduced T9, and LDV 1254 examples of its T60.

While the numbers are impressive, Chinese-made utilities have a long way to go before replicating the success of stalwart favourites.

Across the same timeframe, Ford has sold 13,266 examples of the Ranger, Isuzu 6196 examples of the MU-X, Mazda 3868 examples of the BT-50, Mitsubishi 4597 Triton models, Nissan 2364 Navara models, Toyota 10,999 HiLux models, and Volkswagen 1459 Amaroks.