If you surf motoring news waterholes often enough you’d have learnt about Sichuan Tengzhong, the Chinese heavy equipment manufacturer, jumping out of bed with American General Motors and into something more comfortable by pulling well out of the plan to fully acquire the Hummer brand from the latter.
Already having discontinued Pontiac and having sold Saab (eventually, at least), Hummer sticks out like a steak and baked potato dinner set in GM’s government-induced protein shake diet. At their wits end, the Americans have decided to wind down the brand and along with it, 3000 or so employees, factories and assembly plants across the country. If Saab is anything to go by though, we’ll be in for another prolonged headline grabbing period with multiple companies expressing their interests for the brand at the last minute.
Nothing the Chinese should be concerned about though. They seem to have had their fill with the unhealthy binging during the recent automotive brand sale, with ‘da ge ‘(big brother in Chinese) stepping in recently to cool the burgeoning automotive industry in China.
And the least concerned has to be Chery. Being the country’s largest automotive exporter, Chery has taken great strides in developing not only the industry but advancing themselves towards being a respectable and more competitive global force. Working with the Italians on their design, the Germans on their gearboxes, gone are the days of their cars folding like an accordion upon impact as seen in the various Chinese car crash test videos on YouTube.
Already having discontinued Pontiac and having sold Saab (eventually, at least), Hummer sticks out like a steak and baked potato dinner set in GM’s government-induced protein shake diet. At their wits end, the Americans have decided to wind down the brand and along with it, 3000 or so employees, factories and assembly plants across the country. If Saab is anything to go by though, we’ll be in for another prolonged headline grabbing period with multiple companies expressing their interests for the brand at the last minute.
Nothing the Chinese should be concerned about though. They seem to have had their fill with the unhealthy binging during the recent automotive brand sale, with ‘da ge ‘(big brother in Chinese) stepping in recently to cool the burgeoning automotive industry in China.
And the least concerned has to be Chery. Being the country’s largest automotive exporter, Chery has taken great strides in developing not only the industry but advancing themselves towards being a respectable and more competitive global force. Working with the Italians on their design, the Germans on their gearboxes, gone are the days of their cars folding like an accordion upon impact as seen in the various Chinese car crash test videos on YouTube.
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Exterior
And what an outer shell it is.
On top of looking nothing like the rest of the range in the stable, Chery’s new A3 hatchback brings a much needed credibility shot to the brand here in Singapore.
The soft subtle front drops hints of sportiness with the pulled-back headlights and the slim functional fog lamps that sit very nicely at the bottom of the bumper. The front yaw isn’t dominating but has enough open spaces for a stylized beehive grill with the large chrome Chery insignia gleaming proudly in the sun.
To give the A3 a sense of wider proportions and speed, the car is endowed with a rising belt line that cuts through the pair of door handles on the car.
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Yes, in an instance of inspiration the designers decided to make it interesting by putting an Italian spin on things, employing rear door handles that sit flush before the C-pillar. Serving to remind you that Chery is taking its world domination seriously by working with renowned design houses like Bertone and Pininfarina, both Italian design houses acclaimed for giving birth to the legends like the Lamborghini Countach and the Ferrari F355 respectively, for some of their models.
Before we go any further I thinks it’s important I make things clear about both the above mentioned design institutions. Design houses for hire, both have worked with a host of lesser brands than their elite clientele, including the collaboration Pininfarina had with Peugeot for its 406 and 407 coupe’s and more infamously with Hyundai for one time uber popular Matrix (pretty certain it wasn’t selling based on the design).
Coming back to the Chery, things get a little more interesting at the rear. Shaped like a tear-drop on its side, the warp around tail lamp is outlined by LED bulbs that, on top of giving the car a really nice lights display for the car behind you in the evening, credits the A3 with a much more expensive impression.
Where in most situations the hatchback version of a model is usually fitted with a close or similar variation of the tail lamp of its more voluptuous sedan sibling, the A3 coupe seems to have a very different tail lamp cluster than the sedan. To differentiate the sportier of the two further, the coupe has dual pipes sitting under either side of the bumper.
Probably the best way to appreciate the real beauty of the Chery A3 coupe is from the side. The shape it cuts out is just beautiful in my opinion. The same way people mistook the Kia Cerato Forte last year for something continental, most people would never come close to guessing the Chinese came up with such a model.
The grey metallic 17 inch rims you see on the car in the pictures come standard on the coupe, fitted by Vertex Singapore themselves after they decided to replace the boring 16 inch stock rims.
Before we go any further I thinks it’s important I make things clear about both the above mentioned design institutions. Design houses for hire, both have worked with a host of lesser brands than their elite clientele, including the collaboration Pininfarina had with Peugeot for its 406 and 407 coupe’s and more infamously with Hyundai for one time uber popular Matrix (pretty certain it wasn’t selling based on the design).
Coming back to the Chery, things get a little more interesting at the rear. Shaped like a tear-drop on its side, the warp around tail lamp is outlined by LED bulbs that, on top of giving the car a really nice lights display for the car behind you in the evening, credits the A3 with a much more expensive impression.
Where in most situations the hatchback version of a model is usually fitted with a close or similar variation of the tail lamp of its more voluptuous sedan sibling, the A3 coupe seems to have a very different tail lamp cluster than the sedan. To differentiate the sportier of the two further, the coupe has dual pipes sitting under either side of the bumper.
Probably the best way to appreciate the real beauty of the Chery A3 coupe is from the side. The shape it cuts out is just beautiful in my opinion. The same way people mistook the Kia Cerato Forte last year for something continental, most people would never come close to guessing the Chinese came up with such a model.
The grey metallic 17 inch rims you see on the car in the pictures come standard on the coupe, fitted by Vertex Singapore themselves after they decided to replace the boring 16 inch stock rims.
Interior
In the pamphlet I grabbed off the counter at Vertex, they described the cabin as “A very nice place to be”.
Er…the legitimacy of the statement will boil down to just how much you, the potential customer, is expecting out of such a vehicle.
If you were at either the Nissan or Chevrolet showroom moments before, chances are you’d be switching humorous stares between the pamphlet, the actual interior of the A3 and the salesman.
As one would and should expect, plastics with a hallow echo to them are permanent fixtures (well, at least until they drop out) in the interior, in the form of the door panels, pieces on the steering wheel, air con vents, glove compartment and majority of the centre console.
With your prodding finger you get the idea of the hollow and somewhat thin plastic pieces they’ve thrown into the car.
Another potential problem with the car I found was the steep sloping C-pillar. Sure it looks really good from the outside but the rear headroom takes an obvious beating as you can see in the picture, with the passenger’s head almost grazing the roof and the sides. If your rear passengers aren’t the fussy lot then this shouldn’t be much of an issue.
The flat folding seats are pretty easy to operate as well, easier than the really tough mechanism on the Sorento I tested some time back. But as you might expect, the parts aren’t exactly very well put together, and from another picture you can see the seatbelt cover at the rear not sitting flush with the leather – and with a light touch from my finger I managed to coax the black plastic piece further out.
Driving impressions
The bright red leather seats were just too firm over long distances and the high seating position didn’t carry over the sportiness of the car from exterior.
In the pamphlet I grabbed off the counter at Vertex, they described the cabin as “A very nice place to be”.
Er…the legitimacy of the statement will boil down to just how much you, the potential customer, is expecting out of such a vehicle.
If you were at either the Nissan or Chevrolet showroom moments before, chances are you’d be switching humorous stares between the pamphlet, the actual interior of the A3 and the salesman.
As one would and should expect, plastics with a hallow echo to them are permanent fixtures (well, at least until they drop out) in the interior, in the form of the door panels, pieces on the steering wheel, air con vents, glove compartment and majority of the centre console.
With your prodding finger you get the idea of the hollow and somewhat thin plastic pieces they’ve thrown into the car.
Another potential problem with the car I found was the steep sloping C-pillar. Sure it looks really good from the outside but the rear headroom takes an obvious beating as you can see in the picture, with the passenger’s head almost grazing the roof and the sides. If your rear passengers aren’t the fussy lot then this shouldn’t be much of an issue.
The flat folding seats are pretty easy to operate as well, easier than the really tough mechanism on the Sorento I tested some time back. But as you might expect, the parts aren’t exactly very well put together, and from another picture you can see the seatbelt cover at the rear not sitting flush with the leather – and with a light touch from my finger I managed to coax the black plastic piece further out.
Driving impressions
The bright red leather seats were just too firm over long distances and the high seating position didn’t carry over the sportiness of the car from exterior.
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When I picked the car up, the salesman in charge did tell me that the car was actually a really good drive but also mentioned that above speeds in access of 80km/h, the car does start to vibrate through the steering wheel and it feels less stable.
He then went on to point out that the cause of that was from the aftermarket rims fitted by Vertex and they’re working something out at the moment to rectify the problem.
True enough while cruising on the ECP, the steering started vibrating at around 85km/h and it was obvious the wheels at the front were not balanced properly – something Chery will have to find a solution for quickly if they want to sell their customers a credible product.
With the coupe fitted with a 5-speed manual transmission, the 1,597cc engine takes some patience in operating with 117bhp peaking at 6150rpm and 147Nm of torque twisting at 4300rpm. Nothing exemplary here but the engine at full song didn’t sound as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Still power lower down the rpm range was severely lacking and I found taking slow corners in second gear agonizing, mostly for the vehicle behind me. But the 5 options do give you better control of your desired speed so if you’re looking to overtake, you’d be in good form down shifting and executing the move.
Steering itself was heavy but the feedback from the front wheels were muted, so you’d need to clock some time behind the wheel before being comfortable enough in pushing the car to the limits of its performance.
He then went on to point out that the cause of that was from the aftermarket rims fitted by Vertex and they’re working something out at the moment to rectify the problem.
True enough while cruising on the ECP, the steering started vibrating at around 85km/h and it was obvious the wheels at the front were not balanced properly – something Chery will have to find a solution for quickly if they want to sell their customers a credible product.
With the coupe fitted with a 5-speed manual transmission, the 1,597cc engine takes some patience in operating with 117bhp peaking at 6150rpm and 147Nm of torque twisting at 4300rpm. Nothing exemplary here but the engine at full song didn’t sound as bad as I thought it was going to be.
Still power lower down the rpm range was severely lacking and I found taking slow corners in second gear agonizing, mostly for the vehicle behind me. But the 5 options do give you better control of your desired speed so if you’re looking to overtake, you’d be in good form down shifting and executing the move.
Steering itself was heavy but the feedback from the front wheels were muted, so you’d need to clock some time behind the wheel before being comfortable enough in pushing the car to the limits of its performance.
The independent multilink’s at the rear and MacPherson struts at the front did a commendable job in finding just the right amount of cushioning when taking on tight corners and going over bumpy terrain.
Safety and should you even consider this?
Two steps forward, and one step back.
The A3 is a giant leap for the Chinese brand in being a credible automobile manufacturer around the world. Stating their intentions in entering markets in America and Europe on top of Asia, Chery has gone and made some strategic connections with some of the best known companies in the industry like Bosch and the Italian design houses.
Then they went and got themselves accredited with a 5-star rating for safety from C-NCAP (China New Car Assessment Program), China’s domestic safety test similar to what the European NCAP is to Europe. They say it’s almost similar to what the Euro NCAP does but I guess we’ll have to see the test results ourselves once their European counterparts get their hands on the Chery.
But then they decide not to improve the plastic quality in the A3 in order to keep at a certain price point, constituting the single step back.
At $53,999, the Chery A3 S-Coupe just made it harder for deciding first time car buyers. There’s the Suzuki Swift at $61,900 in 1.5 GLX trim but I can see how some would be swayed by the better looks of the Chery.
Safety and should you even consider this?
Two steps forward, and one step back.
The A3 is a giant leap for the Chinese brand in being a credible automobile manufacturer around the world. Stating their intentions in entering markets in America and Europe on top of Asia, Chery has gone and made some strategic connections with some of the best known companies in the industry like Bosch and the Italian design houses.
Then they went and got themselves accredited with a 5-star rating for safety from C-NCAP (China New Car Assessment Program), China’s domestic safety test similar to what the European NCAP is to Europe. They say it’s almost similar to what the Euro NCAP does but I guess we’ll have to see the test results ourselves once their European counterparts get their hands on the Chery.
But then they decide not to improve the plastic quality in the A3 in order to keep at a certain price point, constituting the single step back.
At $53,999, the Chery A3 S-Coupe just made it harder for deciding first time car buyers. There’s the Suzuki Swift at $61,900 in 1.5 GLX trim but I can see how some would be swayed by the better looks of the Chery.
